PRETERM MEDICAL COMPLICATIONS DIFFERENTIALLY AFFECT NEUROBEHAVIORAL FUNCTIONS - RESULTS FROM A NEW NEONATAL MEDICAL INDEX

A neonatal medical index was developed and externally validated to tes t the clinical sensitivity of the Neurobehavioral Assessment of the Pr eterm Infant (NAPI), for which the reliability and developmental valid ity had previously been established, but which had not been tested for its clinical validity. The Neonatal Medical Index (NMI) summarizes, i n bold strokes, infants' medical course during their stay in the hospi tal. Two questions were posed: (a) Does the assessment differentiate b etween the performance of infants who had severe medical complications from that of infants who had an uncomplicated medical course? and (b) Do medical complications affect some neurobehavioral functions and no t others? The results indicated that all functions requiring infant vi gor and strength were significantly affected by prior medical complica tions (i.e., motor development and vigor, irritability, and vigor of c rying). By contrast, alertness and orientation and several other neuro behavioral functions were relatively unaffected by prior illness.