Early Intervention for Preterm Infants

Preterm birth with very low birth weight (VLBW) (gestational age <37 weeks and birth weight <1,501 g) is a significant public health problem worldwide. Longitudinal follow-up studies showed that VLBW preterm infants require prolonged hospitalization and are at substantial risk for various morbidities during neonatal period than those born at normal birth weight. Furthermore, approximately 40% of VLBW preterm infants are burden with adverse outcomes from chronic health problems and re-hospitalizations, to lower IQ, developmental delays, behavioral problems, and poor educational achievement. Accumulating data collected in Western developed countries have suggested that comprehensive and intensive early interventions may be beneficial for preterm infants and their families. However, there is little information concerning what early intervention should be attempted for these infants and their families in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the cost-effectiveness of three early intervention programs i.e., the usual care program, the clinic-based intervention program, and the home-based intervention program for VLBW preterm infants. In a preliminary study, we surveyed the need of intervention services following hospital discharge in VLBW preterm infants (N=69) and their families. All mothers expressed the need of services that 60 (87%) preferred service delivery at home and 9 (13%) preferred service delivery at neonatal follow-up clinic. The intervention services specifically identified were health and respiratory assistance (N=22), feeding assistance (N=17), education of child development skills (N=12), and parent support (N=8). Based on these survey data and the results of previous intervention studies, we will develop in this proposed research project a clinic-based intervention program and a home-based intervention program that have common intervention services but are respectively delivered via clinic visit and home visit. The interventions are comprehensive that combine child- and parent-focused services including health and feeding consultation, education of child development skills, intervention of mother-infant interaction, and parent support. The eleven-session interventions are intensive that begin in hospitalization and end at 12 months of corrected age.

This will be a four-year research project that employs a single blind, randomized experimental design to examine the efficacy of the early intervention programs for VLBW preterm infants. For the first year, we will develop the clinic-based intervention program and the home-based intervention programs in the actual situations to examine their clinical usefulness. From the second to the fourth year, 180 VLBW preterm infants who are born and admitted to the neonatal intensive care units of National Taiwan University Hospital and MacKay Memorial Hospital will be randomly assigned to the usual care program, the clinic-based intervention program, and the home-based intervention program. Sixty gender and socio-economically matched normal full-term infants will also be included as a comparison group. Child, parenting, and transactions outcomes will be assessed when infants are at 4, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of corrected age. Child outcomes are measured by health status, growth, neurodevelopment, and neurosensory status; parenting outcomes are measured by maternal parenting competence, social support, and psychological stress; transactions outcome is measured by mother-infant interaction. Generalized estimating equations will be used to examine the differences in changes of outcome variables between intervention and control groups. At the end of the fourth year, the costs and effectiveness of the three intervention programs will be compared to determine which one is more cost-effective for VLBW preterm infants in Taiwan. The results of this study will help clinicians and parents understand the efficacy of early intervention for VLBW preterm infants. Furthermore, the data of this study will provide important information to policy makers and health administrators concerning resource allocation of early intervention forVLBW preterm infants in Taiwan.