Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in 0-4 years Children after Cerebral Infections

Abstract

Early and timely intervention to identify infants and children at risk prevents many of the consequences following developmental delays and disorders in these children, so identify children at risk and start interventions before Occurrence or progression of the problem seems to be the most sensible solution. Due to the importance of the issue, lack of accurate information on risk factors, the aim of this study was to evaluate the consequences of neurodevelopment in children aged 0-4 years after suffering from brain infections in Tabriz Children's Hospital. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients with brain infections who are hospitalized in Tabriz Children's Hospital were included in the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and 45 patients were studied. Patients were selected based on chronological age and patients aged 4 years and younger were included in the study. After extracting the required data from the file based on the data collection form, these children were called and after obtaining the consent of the children and obtaining the informed consent of their parents, they were fully examined. Assessment of neurodevelopment was performed with ASQ scoring system and the scores of different cognitive and motor domains were calculated and summarized separately and compared with the cut points related to each domain determined by the Ministry of Health. Variables of height, weight and head circumference of patients were measured and NCHS standard growth curves were used to assess growth criteria. Also, information on gestational age, birth weight and delivery problems, number of days in the ICU and ward and treatments performed for patients 'infections were extracted from patients' files. Results: In the present study, the mean age of patients was 18.13±9.24 months (minimum age was 2 months and maximum was 34 months). In terms of gender, there were 32 boys and 13 girls. The mean age of the disease was 9.81±5.39 days and the mean duration of hospitalization was 6.02±3.70 days. The most common were viral meningitis (20 cases) and then aseptic (19 cases). The frequency of bacterial cases was 6 cases. In general, only one death occurred during the study out of 45 cases in which the patient had aseptic meningitis. Out of 45 patients studied, only 20 seizures were observed, most of which were related to aseptic meningitis and the frequency was 11. In the field of communication, 6 cases, the area of large movements, 2 cases, the area of fine movements, 9 cases, the area of problem solving, 8 cases, and the area of personal social, 2 cases had a mean ASQ score below normal. In total, 19 cases were below one standard deviation, and 7 cases were below two standard deviations. The most common disorder was in the areas of fine motor and problem solving.