Infants with birth weight 1,000-1,499 grams born in three time periods: has outcome changed over time?

The objective of this study was to see whether outcome of infants of larger birth weight (1,000-1,499 grams) has changed with advances in neonatology. The outcome of infants born in a recent time period (1989-1991) was compared with that of infants born previously, in 1984-1986 and 1979-1981. Univariate analyses were conducted on the association of medical risk factors and date of birth with outcome. More than 90% of infants in each time period were neurologically normal and more than 80% were cognitively normal. Predictor variables were intracranial hemorrhage for poor neurologic outcome and days on oxygen for poor cognitive outcome. We found that neurodevelopmental outcome was stable over three time periods.