It took me a little searching (and help of google scholar) to find a healthcare intervention study in Vermont. I discovered this article, which is ten years old- nevertheless, I think it's still relevant to discuss, since the issue of low birth weight continues to impact low-socioeconomic classes throughout the United States. The study, Nine-Year Outcome of the Vermont Intervention Program for Low Birth Weight Infants, examined the effectiveness of an educational intervention for mothers of low-birth weight babies. The mothers were visited seven times in the hospital and four times in their homes during which a nurse gave individualized education and instruction and helped the mothers master hands-on baby-care skills. The intervention stopped at 90 days after birth and this study was done nine years later, comparing the children who got the intervention to those who did not and comparing both with a normal birth weight cohort. They were compared based on measures of cognitive development, and school achievement. They found the low birth weight children who received the intervention performed significantly better on both measures and closely resembled the normal birth weight children.
This article is proves the effectiveness of a low-tech, low-cost intervention in significantly improving outcomes for children who are born at a low birth weight. I am curious what the impact of this study is and what sort of education is routinely given to mothers of low-weight babies. I did a quick search on UpToDate but couldn't find specific recommendations for caring for low birth weight babies after they are delivered. UTD did include a good discussion of the various adult diseases that low birth weight babies are at increased risk for. As far as evaluating intervention, according to the UpToDate article, "excessive or poor postnatal weight gain during the first four months of life appears to have a negative impact on neurodevelopmental outcome". This made me think that part of the benefit of this intervention is helping babies make appropriate weight gain during the critical first three months of life.
In conclusion, this is a complex topic and I am not really doing it justice in a few paragraphs- however I think this is a very interesting intervention with potentially wide applicability.
This article is proves the effectiveness of a low-tech, low-cost intervention in significantly improving outcomes for children who are born at a low birth weight. I am curious what the impact of this study is and what sort of education is routinely given to mothers of low-weight babies. I did a quick search on UpToDate but couldn't find specific recommendations for caring for low birth weight babies after they are delivered. UTD did include a good discussion of the various adult diseases that low birth weight babies are at increased risk for. As far as evaluating intervention, according to the UpToDate article, "excessive or poor postnatal weight gain during the first four months of life appears to have a negative impact on neurodevelopmental outcome". This made me think that part of the benefit of this intervention is helping babies make appropriate weight gain during the critical first three months of life.
In conclusion, this is a complex topic and I am not really doing it justice in a few paragraphs- however I think this is a very interesting intervention with potentially wide applicability.
The full-text article is available through the Upstate Library website. The full citation is: Achenbach, TM, et al. 1993. Nine-year outcome of the Vermont intervention program for low birth weight infants. Pediatrics 91: 45 - 55.
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