[Development in the first year of life of newborns born prematurely - preliminary report].

OBJECTIVE: Introduction: Premature babies account for almost 7% of all newborns and the number of extremely premature infants is increasing. In the European Parliament the problem of premature birth was identified as a priority health task as early as 2011. It is emphasized that the problems of a premature newborn do not end with discharge from hospital. Objective: The aim of the paper was a tentative analysis of the development level of infants born before the 37th week of intrauterine life, taking into account various areas of development and searching for differences in the levels of the development of newborns born prematurely and on time.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Material and methods: The research covered two groups of babies: group I - infants born prematurely (between the 25th and 36th week of their intrauterine life) examined in their 11.5-12.5 month, group II - infants born in due time, examined in their 11.5-12.5 month. Evaluation was carried out in accordance with the Munich Functional Developmental Diagnostics. The analysis comprised 50 questionnaires of prematurely born babies and 30 infants born in due time. Gross and fine motor skills were assessed, as well as autonomy and perception.

RESULTS: Results: In our general evaluation, 80% of the children from group I were active in accordance with their birth age. However, as regards the analysis of development in particular areas, 50% of the children from group I undertook activity compliant with their birth age. The analysis of average values indicates the relationship between the level of prematurity and the level of activity presented by the children examined. As the level of prematurity increases, the level of activity presented by the children decreases. The greatest difficulties in group I were noted with regards to perception and autonomy.

CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The level of activity presented by the children born prematurely at the age of 12 months depends on their level of prematurity. Newborn babies who were born prematurely require diagnostics specifying different spheres of development.