Abstract
Introduction: Among newborns affected by perinatal brain injury 20-50% die during the newborn period, and 25–60% of the survivors suffer from permanent neurodevelopmental handicap, including cerebral palsy, seizures, mental retardation, and learning disabilities (1).
Purpose: To determine quality of life in adolescents with neonatal HIE.
Material and methods: Inception cohort of 16 adolescents with mild (68.7%) to moderate HIE (31.3%): 7 girls (43.8%), 9 (56.3%) with mean GA of 35.75 weeks (SD=±3.80) was compared to 16 healthy students, gender and age matched of 21.69 years (SD=±0.87). HIE was confirmed by presence of abnormal CTG and/or Apgar scores less than 7 at 5 minutes and/or need for resuscitation and/or cord pH less than 7,2 and /or BE more than -15. Self-assessed health-related quality of life was done by SF-36v2 questionnaire, which was tested in our Slovenian population (2,3), Rosenberg self-esteem inventory and Unwholesome behaviour questionnaire.
Results: Adolescents who experienced HIE reported higher number of additional morbidity yet with a good quality of life. Health-related quality of life was rated high: for adolescents with HIE M=81,9 (SD=±11,2) and for healthy adolescents M=75,3 (SD=±11,5); p=0,112. Adolescents with HIE did not differ from healthy adolescents in self-esteem (p=0,68) and unwholesome behaviours, except for over-eating (p=0,01).
Conclusions: Based on our data of higher morbidity despite the general well-being, we think that children with mild to moderate HIE need a follow-up. They develop compensatory strategies, which enable them to have a good quality of life. We hope that the compensatory strategies do not become insufficient when they reach adulthood but enable them a high quality of life instead.