Rwi. Cooke, FACTORS AFFECTING SURVIVAL AND OUTCOME AT 3 YEARS IN EXTREMELY PRETERM INFANTS, Archives of Disease in Childhood, 71(1), 1994, pp. 60000028-60000031
A total of 823 infants born at 28 weeks' gestation or less were admitt
ed to a regional referral unit between 1980 and 1989. Four hundred and
sixty five (56.5%) survived to be discharged home. Twenty one subsequ
ently died and two were lost to follow up. Four hundred and forty two
(53.7%) were assessed for disabilities at the age of 3 years. Eighty f
our (19%) had major disabilities, of which 40 (9%) were severe. A furt
her 39 (9%) had lesser disabilities. Three hundred and nineteen (63%)
survivors appeared to be functioning normally. Logistic regression sho
wed the likelihood of survival to be independently related to gestatio
nal age, birthweight ratio, and more recent year of birth, and inverse
ly related to male sex and ultrasound evidence of cerebral haemorrhage
or infarction. The likelihood of later disability in survivors was on
ly independently related to cerebral ultrasound appearances.