Health status of extremely low-birth-weight children at 8 years of age: child and parent perspective.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the self-reported health of extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW; <1 kg) preterm children with that of normal-birth-weight (NBW) control children and the children's perspective with that of their parents. DESIGN: We administered questionnaires to the ELBW and NBW children and their parents from March 1, 2000, through February 2003. SETTING: A children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred two ELBW children and 176 NBW children aged 8 years of similar sociodemographic status. MAIN EXPOSURE: Birth weight of less than 1 kg. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Child Health and Illness Profile-Child Edition child and parent reports. RESULTS: There was poor agreement between the parent and child ratings of health for the ELBW and NBW cohorts. The ELBW children rated their health as similar to that of NBW children. In contrast, parents of ELBW children reported significantly poorer health for their children than parents of NBW controls, including poorer satisfaction with health, comfort, and achievement and less risk avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: There is poor agreement between child and parent reports of health. At 8 years of age, ELBW children rate their health as similar to that of NBW controls. Their parents, however, report significantly poorer health. Both perspectives need to be considered when making health care decisions.