Infants weighing <1500 g: better born too small or too soon?

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of intrauterine growth on intact neurological outcome at 12 to 24 months in a cohort of infants weighing <1500 g at birth. STUDY DESIGN: This retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Milano-Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy. Perinatal variables were correlated with occurrence of composite adverse outcome, including neonatal death or adverse neurodevelopmental outcome (ANDO), at 12 to 24 months' follow-up, in 240 consecutive very low-birth-weight (VLBW) neonates prenatally classified as growth restricted (IUGR; n = 100) or appropriate for gestational age (n = 140). RESULTS: Among the 214 surviving neonates, neurological follow-up was available in 163. ANDO was present in 46 children (28%). At multivariate analysis, only gestational age at delivery was independently related to the composite outcome (p < 0.001, odds ratio = 0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.59, 0.81), whereas diagnosis of IUGR was not. CONCLUSION: Only gestational age at delivery was significantly associated with composite adverse outcome in VLBW preterm infants.