Very low birthweight infants: a follow-up study

This study was undertaken to determine the outcome of infants delivered at the Royal Hospital for Women during the years 1971 to 1975 who weighed 1500 g or less at birth and who survived the first 28 days of life. Of the 104 neonatal survivors, 79 were seen by one of the writers, nine were seen by other medical practitioners, four had died after the neonatal period, the parents of two children could not be induced to bring their child to be examined, and the remaining ten could not be traced. Abnormalities were found in 15 of the 88 children examined. Three had major physical handicaps (problems causing a restriction of normal lifestyle), 11 had minor handicaps (problems which did not restrict normal lifestyle), and eight had evidence of developmental delay. Infants who were small for gestational age tended to be below the 10th percentile for height or weight at follow-up more often than infants of the appropriate weight for gestational age.