Status of Development of Premature Children from 4 to 12 Months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Admission Based on the ASQ Questionnaire

Backgrounds & Early diagnosis of developmental delays in children with high risk history of hospitalization in the intensive care unit is essential. Children with one or more risk factors before or around birth are more at risk for developmental delay. The aim of this study was to determine the evolution and history of premature children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. the present descriptive study was conducted on 80 premature children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of the Imam Sajad (AS) hospital, Yasuj, Iran, with a history of developmental delay at the ages of 4, 6.12 months using the ASQ questionnaire. The questionnaire contains 30 questions including five fields such as communication, gross motor, fine motor, socialpersonal, problem solving. Along with questionnaire, other essential information were completed. The collected data were analyzed using Chi-square test. among 80 patients, 43 cases (53.8 %) were male, with an average weight of 1734.37+- 445.50 gr. Regarding communication, gross motor, fine motor, social-personal, problem solving, the results were abnormal at the rate of 10, 30, 27.5, 23.8 and 23.8% respectively. There was no significant relationship found among different fields of development, birth weight, gestational age and Apgar score a significant relationship was found. A significant relationship between infants born through normal delivery and infants born via Caesarean section was realized (p<0.05). Despite the natural evolution, the majority of premature children with a history of NICU admission, a significant number have developmental disorder and need to consider early to avoid complications in the future.