Avaliação do crescimento de crianças de muito baixo peso egressas da unidade de internação neonatal

Abstract

The systematic assessment of infant growth becomes pertinent to the early detection of possible alterations in the infant’s health. The objective this study was to identify the profile of the socio-economic and educational conditions of the very low weight premature child’s mother discharged from the Unit of Neonatal Hospitalization (UNH), to investigate the infant’s growth, through the measurements (weight, height and cephalic perimeter), and to verify associations between this growth and the therapeutical conditions in the period of hospitalization. Exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study, carried out in a follow-up ward of a public maternity hospital, in Fortaleza-Ceará, and in the domicile of each child. The study was carried out between December 2004 and April 2005, involving a sample of 33 children, according to the criteria: neonatal weight (1500g), discharge period between July and December 2004, attendance in the follow-up ward of the institution and domicile in Fortaleza. A questionnaire was employed, concerning the mother’s background, neonatal conditions, therapeutical interventions, monthly anthropometric measurements and assessment of the growth curve in the chart normalized by the Ministry of Health, of international reference by the ‘National Center for Health Statistics’ – NCHS. The data were processed via software SPSS release 11.0, and presented in tables and chart. The mother´s data showed that nine of them (29.0%) have age between 14 and 19 years-old; 20 (64.6%) live with their partners in consensual union; 22 (71.0%) have finished high school and do not work outside their homes; 18 (58.0%) get by on an income of less than one minimum wage, 11(35%) attended between four to six prenatal care appointments, nine (29.0%) were primipare. In what concerns the infants, 16 (48.5%) are male and 17(51.5%) are female; 13 (39.4%) were born when they were less than 29 weeks of Gestational Age (GA) and 17 (51.5%) when they were between 30 to 33 weeks, 22 neonates (66.7%) were considered small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and 11 (33.3%) appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA). As for the anthropometric measurements, 26 (78.8%) infants stood out with weight between 1,000g and 1,440 g, 18 (54.6%) with height between 35 to 40cm and 19 (57.6%) with cephalic perimeter between 26 and 28cm. Were delivered through natural childbirth sixteen (48.5%), 17 (51.5%) through cesarean section, 28 (84.8%) were singleton fetuses, five (15.2%) twin fetuses, 14 (42.4%) babies presented an Apgar scoring of 4-6 in their first minute of life. 21 (63.6%) of the infants were resuscitated, and needed oxygen therapy, while six (18.0%) needed mechanical ventilation for 26 to 110 days. Analysing the percentiles of the very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants, throughout the period between December of 2004 and April of 2005, we have not found growth between the percentile ranks, either for the variable weight, as for height; however, we have found a increase in the cephalic perimeter measurements. After the associaytion of the variables with the identified percentiles in the growth curve, it was noticed influence of the neonate’s resuscitation, the oxygenation period, the phototherapy use period, the hospitalization period, as well as the mother’s educational level, on the anthropometric measurements. The research showed that (VLBW) infants survive the hospitalization difficulties and present a deficit in growth in their first year of life.