Obstetrical condition and neonatal neurological morbidity. An analysis with the help of the optimality concept

doi:10.1016/0378-3782(80)90027-4

Early Human Development

Volume 4, Issue 3, September 1980, Pages 207-228

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-3782(80)90027-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

In order to increase understanding of the origin of neonatal neurological morbidity, the relationship between the obstetrical and neonatal neurological conditions was studied in a 3-year cohort containing 3162 singleton infants. The infants were neurologically examined at term age according to the technique described by Prechtl. Obstetrical data were documented extensively. Prechtl's optimality concept was applied in the analysis. A statistically significant relationship was found between the obstetrical and neo-natal neurological optimality scores. There was no sex difference in the obstetrical optimality, whereas there was in the neurological optimality, to the advantage of the girls. It could be shown that obstetrical conditions such as acidemia, preterm birth and intrauterine growth retardation have a stronger relationship to neurological morbidity when the accompanying obstetrical optimality is lower. In obstetrical practice the application of the optimality concept to obstetrical and neurological data is a helpful complementary refinement.

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Citation Excerpt :
Of the 474 infants enrolled at birth, 72% participated in the follow-up assessment at nine years (Fig. 1; for details see [13]). Extensive information on social background, obstetric conditions and pre- and perinatal circumstances was collected, which enabled us to form an obstetric optimality score (OOS) [14]. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) was used to evaluate social background at 18 months and an abbreviated version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS III) was applied to estimate maternal verbal IQ.
In children with developmental disorders, motor problems often co-occur with cognitive difficulties. Associations between specific cognitive deficits underlying learning problems and minor neurological dysfunction (MND) are still unknown.
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^☆: This paper is a publication from the Groningen Perinatal Project, supported by the Praeventiefonds (Grant 28–226) and by the Prinses Beatrixfonds, The Netherlands.

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Obstetrical condition and neonatal neurological morbidity. An analysis with the help of the optimality concept☆

Abstract

Early Hum. Dev.

Neurological and pediatric findings in newborns and mothers with hypertensive disease in pregnancy

On intrauterine growth

Int. J. Gynecol. Obstet.

Die Erfassung obstetrischer und postnataler Risikofaktoren durch eine Liste optimaler Bedingungen

Monatsschr. Kinderheilk.