Functional assessment of a multicenter very low-birth-weight cohort at age 5 years. Newborn Lung Project

Very low-birth-weight newborns (birth weight < or = 1500 g) experience serious neonatal complications, but long-term outcomes are not completely known. Most studies reflect an era of neonatal care that was fundamentally different from the present.

To compare the functional level of very low-birth-weight children before and after surfactant introduction and to relate functional level to clinical and socioeconomic factors.

Inception cohort followed up from birth to an average age of 5 years.

Six regional neonatal intensive care units in a contiguous geographic area.

Four hundred twenty-five very low-birth-weight children, born between August 1, 1988, and June 30, 1991, of 438 located among 626 whose parents provided follow-up information before neonatal intensive care unit discharge.

None.

Diagnosis of cerebral palsy and standardized scores for self-care, mobility, and social function from the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory.

Cerebral palsy was present in 12.6% of the children, with no change after surfactant introduction. Intraventricular hemorrhage (odds ratio, 2.3 per grade; 95% confidence interval, 1.8-2.8) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (odds ratio, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-4.6) were independently predictive of cerebral palsy and of functional outcome. For self-care, mobility, and social function, 11.7%, 29.5%, and 10.7% of the children, respectively, scored at least 2 SDs below the normative means. Social function was 0.25 to 0.50 normative SDs lower after general surfactant availability than before general surfactant availability.

While there was no increase in major disability after surfactant introduction, there may have been a decrease in social function associated with the lower neonatal mortality. Most very low-birth-weight children functioned within the normal range in everyday tasks. Several predictors of outcome were identified.