Outcome following extremely preterm birth

Abstract 

Birth before 26 completed weeks of gestation poses great challenges for the perinatal team. An understanding of the published data on survival and outcome is critical to accurate counselling of parents around the time of birth. This paper describes the difficulties in interpreting survival and outcome data from multiple sources and investigates the differences in mortality and morbidity in various reports. Morbidity in terms of severe disability is frequent among survivors of extremely preterm birth, but detailed consideration of the different reporting methods indicates that there is some consistency across international studies. Longer-term studies in middle childhood are required to quantify the problems faced by the extremely preterm child, but consideration of studies in related populations would indicate that these are likely to be considerable. Adult outcomes, however, indicate that despite adversity in middle childhood the eventual quality of life as an adult is likely to be satisfactory.

Keywords:  Preterm infant, Survival, Development, Disability, Psychological outcome