Study of the relevant factors of behavioral development among 30-month-old infants in rural area of Shaanxi Province / 中华预防医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the relevant factors of behavioral development among 30-month-old infants in rural area, Shaanxi Province.@*Methods@#The behavioral development among 977 infants aged 30-month-old was evaluated in Changwu and Binxian of Shaanxi province from July 2006 to August 2008. The inclusion criteria included single live birth between January 2004 and February 2006, mother had participated in a community-based intervention study named "Impact of multi-micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy on low birth weight and premature delivery" . Infants who had obvious deformity or other birth defects, infants who could not complete the questionnaire survey, physical examination were excluded from the study. The self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the information of feeding patterns, disease status, physical development, and immunization status of the infants, and their behavioral development were assessed by Bayley scales of infant development (BSID). General Linear Model was used to adjust the possible confounding factors, and the analysis of variance was performed to explore the effects on the behavioral development among infants aged 30-month-old.@*Results@#Among the infants in the study, the average age was (30.6±0.6) months old, the mean birth weight was (3 199.1±405.9)g. After adjusted the mothers' age of delivery, educational level and occupation of the parents, family ecnomic conditions and the number of children, infants whose mother exposed to toxic chemicals during pregnancy had lower score in activity (-0.179±0.961) and lower score in concentration (-0.177±1.099) compared with infants with unexposed mother (0.058±1.006, P=0.001; 0.057±0.960, P=0.003). Similarly, infants whose mother took drugs during pregnancy had lower score in persistent behaviors (-0.070±1.000) compared with infants whose mother did not(0.085±1.006, P=0.017). Compared with normal birth infants(0.043±0.981, P=0.007; 0.021±0.984, P=0.034), infants less than gestational age and low birth weight had lower score in concentration(-0.198±1.063 and-0.389±1.285, respectively). After adjusted the delivery gestational age of mothers, the months of infants, the mothers' age of delivery, educational level and occupation of the parents, family ecnomic conditions, the number of children, and the main orderlies of infants, the score of activity of infants suffered from diseases in early month age was-0.049±0.992, which was lower than those who did not(0.207±1.011, P=0.001). The infants with Rickets signs had lower score in motor coordination (-0.218±0.896) than normal infants (0.031±1.011, P=0.013). Infants whose mother with adequate micronutrient supplementation in pregnancy had higher score in concentration (0.066±0.966) than those whose mother with insufficient supplementation (-0.062±1.027, P=0.043). Furthermore, infants with fine protein added and minerals and vitamins added had higher score in activity and concentration compared with those insufficient, who scored 0.078±1.013 and 0.496±0.872 (-0.254±0.924, P<0.001; 0.001±0.997, P=0.033), respectively.@*Conclusion@#Micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy and reasonable nutrition added during childhood could affect behavioral development among infants.