A study of psychomotor development in premature patients during their first year

Introduction. It is necessary to differentiate neurological evaluation in the different stages of development, which include the premature newborn infant (PNI), the full-term newborn, the unweaned baby, the child and the teenager. Several studies have shown the importance of using the corrected age when exploring the psychomotor development of premature babies. Patients and methods. The population we studied was made up of a cohort of PNI who were born in the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre and were monitored until they reached the age of 12 months. Motricity, sociability and speech were all considered. Results and conclusions. It was possible to establish the frame works of neurological development at the corrected ages of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The development of static balance was the only item among the motor aspects that did not agree with what was to be expected for the corrected age. The PNIs' development was uniform, with regard to the perceptive and language functions for each corrected age. Such results reinforce the importance of studies like the one we present in this paper, since it is a period that can provide us with information that is useful for the early diagnosis of development disorders. It is also the best time to indicate psychomotor and affective stimulation, if we bear in mind the importance of the brain's plasticity during the first year of life.