Outcomes for Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants
Disappointing News
- Jon E. Tyson, MD, MPH;
- Saroj Saigal, MD
- Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston Medical School, Houston (Dr Tyson); and Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario (Dr Saigal).
- Corresponding Author: Jon E. Tyson, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School, 6431 Fannin St, MSB 2.106, Houston, TX 77030-1503 (jon.e.tyson{at}uth.tmc.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- DISABILITY EVALUATION
- INFANT, LOW BIRTH WEIGHT
- OUTCOME ASSESSMENT (HEALTH CARE)
- QUALITY OF LIFE
The long-term outcome for extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW) infants—weighing less than 1000 g at birth—is of great interest to parents, the public, and a broad variety of professional groups, including educators, psychologists, health care planners, as well as obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatricians, and all other medical specialists involved in the care of these children. Studies of small premature infants born before the 1990s indicated that intensive perinatal care decreased their mortality without decreasing the proportion of survivors with disabilities. As a result, the absolute number of the survivors with disabilities increased.1
The advances in perinatal care in the 1990s, particularly the widespread use of antenatal corticosteroids and postnatal surfactant, dramatically reduced the mortality of high-risk infants. Partly because these advances help to prevent intracranial hemorrhage and improve pulmonary function, there has been hope for a reduction in the proportion, if not the absolute number, of ELBW survivors who have disabilities or …
