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Early developmental outcome following surgery for oesophageal atresia
Author(s) -
Walker Karen,
Halliday Robert,
Badawi Nadia,
Stewart Jan,
Holland Andrew JA
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.12206
Subject(s) - medicine , gestational age , pediatrics , birth weight , atresia , gestation , surgery , pregnancy , genetics , biology
Aim To compare the developmental outcome of infants with oesophageal atresia with or without trachea‐oesophageal fistula ( OA / TOF ) who underwent surgery in early infancy with healthy control infants in N ew S outh W ales, A ustralia. Methods Infants diagnosed with OA / TOF requiring surgical intervention were enrolled prospectively between 1 A ugust 2006 and the 31 D ecember 2008. Healthy control infants were enrolled in the same time period. The children underwent a developmental assessment at 1 year of age (corrected) using the B ayley S cales of I nfant and T oddler D evelopment ( V ersion III ). Results Of 34 infants with OA / TOF that were enrolled, 31 had developmental assessments. The majority (75%) were term infants (≥37 weeks gestation) with a mean birth weight of 2717 g. Fourteen infants (44%) had an associated birth defect and one infant with multiple associated anomalies subsequently died. Developmental assessments were also performed on 62 control infants matched for gestational age. Infants with OA / TOF had a mean score significantly lower on the expressive language subscale ( P < 0.05) compared with the control infants. Conclusions This study found a lower than expected developmental score for infants following surgery for OA / TOF in the expressive language subscale compared with the healthy control infants. These findings support concerns over the potential impact of OA / TOF and its effects on development. Further studies, including continuing developmental review to determine whether these differences persist and their functional importance, should be performed.