2021 Volume 57 Issue 3 Pages 613-617
Purpose: To compare the neurodevelopmental outcomes at 6 years of age of very low birth weight (VLBW) children who underwent surgical procedures during the neonatal period with those who did not and to evaluate the long-term prognosis across the period from 2005 to 2008.
Methods: Fifteen VLBW children who had undergone neonatal surgery (surgical group) were enrolled in this study and compared with 74 who did not (nonsurgical group).
Results: The average intelligence quotient at 6 years of age was lower in the surgical group (72.7, 54–103) than in the nonsurgical group (88.8, 40–131) (p = 0.0024). We further divided the surgical group into the patent ductus arteriosus surgical group and the abdominal surgical group. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the intelligence quotient at 6 years of age (p = 0.31).
Conclusions: Neonatal surgical stress may worsen the long-term neurodevelopmental prognosis of VLBW children.
