Extremely-low-birthweight infants: Neurological, psychological, growth and health status beyond five years of age

Abstract

Of 60 consecutive survivors of birth weight 500-999 g, who were born in one teritary perinatal centre from 1977 to 1980, 59 infants were assessed by a multidisciplinary team at two years of age (corrected for prematurity) and 58 children were evaluated when aged at least five years. At the latter examination, 9% of the 58 children who were assessed were severely disabled; 17% had a mild or moderate disability; and 74% had no important disability. For the 53 children who were tested, the means for the three scales of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence were just above the test mean. The psychologist noted bahvioural problems during her assessment in 50% of children, and ..