Perfil de prematuros em atendimento fonoaudiológico em um ambulatório de follow up

Abstract

Purpose: to describe the profile of preterm children based on sociodemographic, clinical, and assistance aspects, and their association with peri- and postnatal data. Methods: observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil), under evaluation report no. 3,615.440. It was based on the analysis of 749 medical records of preterm children attended at the speech-language-hearing department of a multidisciplinary follow-up outpatient center. All medical records from 2009 to 2019 were included in the study. The association analyses were made with the Pearson chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the statistically significant values were set at p≤0.05. Results: the sample was evenly distributed between females and males, and most of them were moderate-to-late premature children. Most parents had graduated from high school, earning up to two minimum wages (60.0%). As for the clinical aspects, there was a statistically significant association (p≤0.001) between gestational age and birth weight, length, head circumference, use of kangaroo care, feeding method at discharge, ototoxic drugs, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, and jaundice. Most babies (99.9%) were submitted to the Guthrie test, with normal results (95.3%). It was likewise with the Neonatal Hearing Screening (79.9%), with normal results (89.4%). Conclusion: most of the sample were from low-income families, with late premature babies. There was a statistical significance for type of delivery, weight, length, head circumference, ototoxic drug use, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, and jaundice, with changes occurring predominantly in extremely premature infants.