Development of pre-term very low weight newborn babies

In the last decades, great breakthroughs in medical and hospital technology contributed for a consistent decline in the neonatal mortality rates. The purpose of this study was to check the neuropsychomotor development (DNPM) of pre-term newborn babies (RNPT) with very low weight on birth, by means of the application of the Denver Development Screening Test (Denver Test II). In order to achieve that, it was evaluated 24 children with birth weight under 1500 grams, which were hospitalized in the Neonatal ICU of the University Hospital of Santa Maria, in the period from January 2002 through December 2006. It was excluded newborn babies with genetic syndromes and bigger malformations, diagnosed by the medical team. The data were analyzed by the software STATA 10, being used the test T, the Fisher s exact Test in the comparison of the results (p