Survival and Developmental Disability in Infants With Birth Weights of 501 to 800 Grams, Born Between 1979 and 1994

Abstract

This analysis suggests that the increasing survival of extremely low birth weight neonates since the late 1970s has not resulted in an increased rate of major developmental problems identifiable at 1 year of age.

Nursery Survival for Infants of Birth Weight 500–1500 Grams During 1982–1995

“…This figure compares favorably with the 59% reported by O'Shea et al 24 for infants with BW 800 g or less from 1989 to 1994. By period 4 there was essentially no difference in survival in infants weighing >750 g in our study.…”

“…Similar results have been reported by Allen et al 21 in 1993 and Hack et al 23 in 1995 with 56% and 54% survival at 24 weeks GA. Survival for the infants presented by O'Shea et al 24 in 1997 increased from 31% at 23 weeks to 63% at 24 weeks.…”

Hospital Survival of Very-Low-Birth-Weight Neonates from 1977 to 2000

“…Previous VLBW survival studies found advantages for neonates of black race [3][4][5][6][7] and female gender 4,[8][9][10][11][12] that could not be explained by differences in gestational age. 8 Most of these studies relied on relatively short study periods and excluded neonates who died in the delivery room, died prior to transfer, were part of multifetal gestations, or had congenital anomalies.…”

Prediction of Extrauterine Growth Retardation (EUGR) in VVLBW Infants

“…Many studies have reported postnatal growth that significantly lags behind intrauterine patterns throughout hospitalization and leads to extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR). [1][2][3][4][5][6] Outcomes from a number of studies show that very very low birth weight (VVLBW) (<1000 g) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (<750 g) infants often remain physically smaller than term-born peers during infancy and well into childhood [7][8][9][10] and that poor neurodevelopmental outcomes are more common in infants with subnormal postnatal head growth. [8][9][10] The goal in this study was to identify predictors of EUGR in infants <1000 g and to evaluate their nutritional intake and subsequent growth.…”