Un estudio multicéntrico argentino: variaciones en el desarrollo cognitivo en bebés nacidos a término

Abstract

Introducción: exponemos los resultados del proyecto de investigación UBACyT 2012-2015, “Evaluación de la Inteligencia Sensoriomotriz a bebés de 6 a 30 meses de edad, de la República Argentina”. Objetivos: estudiar las características sociodemográficas de la población evaluada y las variables asociadas a riesgo y retraso en el desarrollo cognitivo. Población: 773 niños de 6 a 30 meses de edad, sanos, nacidos a término, provenientes de centros de 10 provincias argentinas. Resultados: Las variables asociadas a riesgo y retraso en el desarrollo cognitivo fueron: edad del niño mayor a 15 meses, edad gestacional menor a 40 semanas, especialmente los niños de 37 semanas de gestación, y desempleo paterno está asociado a retraso en el desarrollo cognitivo. Conclusiones: Destacamos la importancia de continuar la monitorización periódica del desarrollo durante el segundo año de vida en niños sanos y proponemos repensar las características del desarrollo cognitivo y su evaluación en niños considerados nacidos a término, que nacieron de 37 semanas de gestación.

Introduction: Through this paper we show the results of a research belonging to a UBACyT 2012-2015 project, which was titled “Evaluation of the sensorimotor intelligence of infants from 6 to 30 months old, from Argentina” (“Evaluación de la Inteligencia Sensoriomotriz a bebés de 6 a 30 meses de edad, de la República Argentina”). The aims of this project were to evaluate cognitive development in children from 6 to 30 month old, in various provinces of Argentina. And to investigate construction stages of sensoriomotor intelligence in Argentine infants. From the sample of this project, the aim for the present paper was to investigate associations between sociodemographic variables and cognitive development levels: normality, risk and delay. Population: The sample consists of 773 children 6-30 months old, healthy, born at term, with normal birth weight, and from 10 Argentinean provinces. Results: The statistical analysis showed that the infant´s age at the time of the evaluation older than 15 mounth old, is associated to higher frequencies of risk level in cognitive development. Infants with gestational age less than 40 weeks gestations obtained higher frequencies of delay in cognitive development. Delay frequencies tended to increase with decreasing gestational age. Children of 37 weeks of gestation were the most affected in cognitive development. And finally, having an unemployed father was associated to higher frequencies of delay levels in cognitive development. Conclutions: We highlight the importance of the periodic development evaluation even during the second year old of life in healthy infants and we propose to rethink the cognitive development features and the evaluation in infants, born at 37 gestational weeks.