Book Description
Background: Evidence suggests the presence of complex biologic connections between the social environment, neurologic development, and long-term health. Premature infants spend many months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) often separated from their parent(s). Decrease in the age of viability threshold allows extremely preterm infants to benefit from lifesaving therapies; however, they are frequently exposed to significant stressors that increase their risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among socio-demographic factors, exposure to stressors in the NICU environment, stress modifiers/buffers, neonatal morbidities at discharge, and 1. 2-year neurodevelopmental outcomes and 2. risk for autism in infants born less than 32 weeks gestational age cared for in a large, urban, tertiary NICU. Conceptual Basis: Mefford's Theory of Health Promotion for Preterm Infants and D'Agata's Infant Medical Trauma in the NICU. Methods: A retrospective cohort design. Findings: Final models were computed for Bayley III cognitive, language, and motor composite scores. All significant predictors at the p
