Related Experiment Videos
[Clinical risk index for small premature infants]
Background:
The clinical risk index for babies (CRIB) is a score given to extremely small prematures as a tool for expressing initial sickness. It was developed in order to compare results among different neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
Material And Methods:
The CRIB score was determined for prematures with birth weight < or = 1,000 g born at the Central Hospital in Akershus during the 1995-99 period. The results are measured as the survival rate until discharge.
Results:
45 babies where treated at our NICU during this five-year period. Median gestation age was 27 weeks (range: 23-32 weeks), median birth weight was 875 g (range: 475-1,000 g), median CRIB was 4 (range: 1-16). The survival rate until discharge was 89%. To validate the CRIB score as a predictor for hospital mortality, a receiver-operating curve (ROC) was constructed. The area under the ROC curve was 0.93.
Interpretation:
CRIB proved to be a good predictor for hospital mortality and seems a useful indicator for initial sickness.