Qualidade de vida de crianças em idade escolar: associação com a prematuridade e fatores relacionados

Abstract

The increased survival of even smaller preterm has been accompanied by an increasing number of children exposed to this condition. These children present risk to develop alterations in motor development, socioemotional and behavioral difficulties, which can negatively influence their quality of life (QoL). Objectives: Evaluate QoL of children at school age, and its association with prematurity and others factors. Methods: cross-sectional study including 117 children with age range of 5 to 7 years and their caregivers.Preterm Group (PTG), was composed of 54 children and the term group (TG) with 63. To assess the quality of life of children the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (Peds QL) in the version for child and the caregiver, was used. For the assessment of the functionality of the children, the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) was used. To evaluate the behavior the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was answered by the parents. For all statistics analyzes the level of significance was considered α=0.05. Results: Children's responses in relation to their QoL were significantly lower than of the caregivers and showed low correlation and low reliability (r <0.040), except for the emotional dimension. Prematurity in an isolated way didn’t differ between groups in the child's QOL, neither from their perspective or the caregiver´s. When prematurity was associated with functional or behavioral performance, the altered PTG presented means significantly lower than in most domains of QoL in the caregiver's perspective. However, the school level of QoL in the child's own view, in relation to functional performance, the PTG had lower scores only in Functional Abilities part in the area of social function. In the SDQ, area of conduct, in the child's perspective, TG altered had lower than average PTG Normal; the prosocial SDQ normal, TG presented higher scores than the PTG Abnormal scores; the SDQ supplement difference was observed in the Social and Total PedsQL. The NE was not associated with the child's QOL, neither from their perspective and neither under the perspective of their caregivers. Conclusion: The results of this study suggests that prematurity in an isolated way wasn´t negative directly to the child's QOL. However, when it was associated with functional or behavioral changes the average child's QoL are lower in the child's perspective and caregiver perspective .