Efeitos do tubo orotraqueal sobre as habilidades orais e a performance alimentar de recém-nascidos pré-termo

Abstract

The increased survival of high-risk preterm infant has required a great number of studies about his/her quality of life and integration during development process with the need for a greater improvement and specialization in the other areas who cares of these children. Many premature infants need to receive mechanical ventilation and it may represent a risk factor for the development of the stomatognathic system causing difficulties in the introduction of oral feeding. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of the endotracheal tube used for mechanical ventilation on the oral skills and feeding performance of preterm infants. Forty-five preterm infants were selected in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM) from February 2012 to February 2013. The babies were enrolled at the time to begin oral feeding, after parent s consent was obtained. Children who presented head or neck malformation, genetic syndromes, heart problems, perinatal asphyxia, intracranial haemorrhage grades III and IV and bilirubin encephalopathy were exclude. Participants were divided in two groups according the use or not of endotracheal tube. The oral skills were evaluated at the time to begin oral feeding through two distinct protocols: Fujinaga et al. (2005) and Lau and Smith (2011). The data were analyzed using software Stata 10, being considered as significant the p value < 0.05. We concluded that the use of endotracheal tube during neonatal hospitalization negatively influenced the feeding performance and prolonged the time to acquisition full oral feeding in preterm infants. However, it seems have no influence on oral skills according the protocols. The protocol proposed by Fujinaga seems better discriminate the oral skills when compared to the Lau and Smith s protocol.