Introduction:

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection is a cause of hearing loss and cognitive impairments. Perinatal infection by this virus is more frequent in neonates< 1500 g and produces fewer neurological sequelae.

Objective:

To describe neurological evaluation in the first year of life in very low birth weight children with cytomegalovirus infection.

Methods:

A descriptive and longitudinal study involving 14 neonates< 1500 g, with a diagnosis of congenital or perinatal cytomegalovirus infection; to which neurodevelopmental evaluation, cranial ultrasound, auditory brain stem evoked potentials and visual potentials were performed at 40 weeks, six months and one year of corrected gestational age. In the first evaluation, electroencephalogram was also performed.

Results:

43 % had congenital infection and 57 % perinatal infection. At 40 weeks, 79% of cases were fully evaluated, at six months 64% and at one year 36%. No abnormalities were observed on the cranial ultrasound or electroencephalogram. At one year of corrected age, slight alterations in neurodevelopment were detected in 33.3% of all cases (2/6) and with the same percentage in children with congenital (1/3) and perinatal (1/3) infection. In no patient evaluated, sensorineural deafness or visual nerve damage was detected.

Conclusions:

The neurodevelopmental alterations found at one year of corrected age may be related to prematurity or cytomegalovirus infection. Medium- and long-term follow-up is necessary to detect other late-onset neurological sequelae.

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