Effect of Early Intervention on Post Tracheostomy Infants on Developmental Delay

Abstract

Background: In the pediatric population, tracheostomy is most common to provide good ventilator support, andthat too is most commonly performed in the infant population. Tracheostomy is frequently associated with devicessuch as ventilators, which can further interrupt the neck motion and this in turn, may also affect the gross motordevelopment.Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of early intervention in post-tracheostomy infants with developmentaldelays.Materials and Methods: A randomized control trial was conducted with a total of 20 tracheostomy infants with amean age of 2 months. Subjects were randomized into the early intervention group (n = 10) and the conventionalgroup (n = 10). Both groups were treated with routine chest care in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. In addition,the early intervention group included neck postural and movement activities for 20 minutes per day for 5 daysfor 4 weeks.Results: One outcome concentrated on neck control by using a clinical rating scale for head control (HCS), andanother outcome concentrated on gross motor milestones (lying and rolling components) by using the GrossMotor Functional Measure (GMFM-88). Both groups were similar at baseline, with a p-value of 0.8493 in HCS and0.56866 in GMFM. Following improvement in head control, the GMFM score improves from 29% to 74% in theconventional group. Early intervention groups progressed from 25% to 89%.Conclusion: Early intervention programs concentrated on post-tracheostomy infants showed significantimprovement in the development of neck control and rolling. And organized head movement in space was notedwhen compared to conventional groups.