Psychomotor Development of Low Birth Weight Infants at the “Mère-Enfant” University Hospital Centre (UHC) of Libreville

Abstract

Introduction: Low birth weight is a key indicator of newborn health. The objective of this study was to contribute to the reduction of low birth weight-related morbidity and mortality. Patients and Methods: cohort study conducted from January 2019 to July 2020 at the “Mère-Enfant” University Hospital Centre (UHC) of Libreville. All newborns with a birth weight 2500 g were included. The clinical data of patients were studied. They were followed over a period of 12 months and assessed psychomotorly by the Brunet-Lézine scale. Results: 1260/9035 births of low birth weight (14.0%) were observed, and 300 among them were included. The mortality rate was 27.0% (81) and 219 were followed for 12 months. The sex ratio was 0.8, the average birth weight was 2008.6 ± 215.2 g. The average gestational age was 34 ± 12 weeks with 75.3% prematurity. An infant disease was observed in 61.6% of cases and respiratory pathologies were more observed except at 3 months of age where the proportion of digestive pathologies was 20.5%. At the time of the last consultation at 12 months of life, 76.2% of infants had no pathology. The quotients of postural development, language and coordination were normal (between 110 - 70) respectively in 75.4%, 99.1% and 68% of cases at the age of 12 months. The psychomotor development quotient was correlated with the birth weight in the language area r = 0.15 (p = 0.024), posture r = 0.15 (p = 0.015) and coordination r = 0.15 (p = 0.026) respectively. Conclusion: Low birth weight is a public health problem at UHCME-JEF. Despite the fact that psychomotor development can be said to be satisfactory, many efforts remain to be made to reduce low birth weight levels and improve survival.