Assessment of physical development indicators of preterm infants of the Carpathian region at the stage of catamnestic observation

Aim - to analyze the features of physical development of prematurely born children who were under follow-up observation during the first year of the life for early detection of deviations and their timely correction. Materials and methods. 29 Medical records of follow-up observation of prematurely born children aged from 0 up to 12 months were processed. All prematurely born children were divided into three groups at birth: with low weight - 1500-2500 g, with very low weight - 1000-1499 g and with extremely low weight - less than 1000 g. Physical development was assessed once a month according to body weight, head circumference and body length conserning the age. The obtained data were statistically processed using Microsoft Office Excel. Results. It was established that in 1 year the body weight in the groups I, II and III increased by 5, 6, 9 times, respectively. Head circumference during the first year in the all groups corresponded to gestational age. The increase of body length in the groups I, II and III at the age of 1 year was 1.6, 1.8, 1.9 times, respectively. The highest growth rates in the first year of the life in terms of body weight, head circumference and body length were observed in premature children in the groups III and II. “Growth graphs” showed that 93.1% of premature children had physical development below average. Conclusions. Physical development in 93.1% of premature children was between the 9th and 25th percentiles and corresponded to gestational age. Children with extremely low and low birth weight had more intensive growth in terms of basic indicators of physical development. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of all participating institutions. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.