Developmental outcome at 18 months of children less than 1000 grams.

AIMS: Aims of this paper were to carry out an audit of 105 extremely low birth weight infants at 18 months of age, identifying problems, disseminating the resulting information and providing a basis for future work.

METHODS

Children born in 1990-2 were classified in categories I to IV according to outcome, and selected perinatal variables were analysed for these groupings.

RESULTS

The disability rate (categories I and II) within this cohort was 21% a similar finding to that reported in other literature. For the group with slow motor development and/or tonal abnormalities the percentage was 15. Despite the high risk nature of this group 64% of children were progressing well (category IV) at this age. No significant differences in outcome were found between small for gestational age and appropriate weight for gestational age infants. Significant results were demonstrated in the adverse effects of chronic lung disease and intraventricular haemorrhage on subsequent development.

CONCLUSION

The information obtained from this study provides support for the use of this type of audit in Units with extremely low birth weight populations.