A First-Year Follow-Up of High-Risk Infants: Formulating a Cumulative Risk Index

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Abstract
Multiple developmental assessments were made at 4-mo. intervals over the 1st yr of life for 2 groups of infants born at risk and 1 normal group. The groups included 46 preterm respiratory distress syndrome [RDS] infants, 46 postterm postmaturity syndrome and 59 term normal infants. The mothers were white, multiparous, middle-class, high school graduates averaging 25 yr of age. Analyses of group differences revealed that the preterm RDS infants continued to exhibit delays in motor and mental development and the postmature infants in mental development. Discriminant function analyses suggested that the most efficient predictors and accurate discriminators of continuing risk were as follows: the Parmelee obstetric and postnatal complications scores and the Brazelton interactive and motoric process scores at birth; the Denver rating, mother-infant interaction and Carey temperament ratings at 4 mo.; and the Bayley mental and motor scores at 8 mo. On the basis of their weighted assessment scores, infants were assigned a cumulative risk index at each assessment period.