[Outcome at 3 years of age in a low birth weight cohort].
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to establish the outcome at 3 years of age for very low birth weight newborns admitted to the Hospital 12 de Octubre from January 1991 to December 1993.


METHODS
A follow-up study was performed. The pediatric assessment included a neurological, psychological, visual and audiological evaluation. At the end of the follow-up, children were blindly assessed to determine the rate of neurosensory disability. The severity of the neurosensory disability was graded as severe, moderate or mild by a functional classification. The rates of cerebral palsy, blindness and deafness were reported.


RESULTS
Two hundred fifty-three infants between 500 and 1,499 g were admitted to the Hospital 12 de Octubre of which 182 survived. Of these, 137 (75% of the survivors) were assessed at 3 years of age. The children who dropped out during the follow-up period had similar characteristics to those with a complete follow-up program except that the drop-out child was more likely to belong to a disadvantaged family. The rate of neurosensory disability was 28.5% (39/137), 16% were mild, 5% moderate and 7% severe. The rate of cerebral palsy was 13% (18/137), blindness 1.4% and deafness 0.7%.


CONCLUSIONS
Children from more disadvantaged families are less likely to continue in follow-up programs and this supposes a bias in the follow-up program. At 3 years, neurosensory disability was diagnosed in 1 out of every 4 children and cerebral palsy in 1 out of 8 children.
Pallás Alonso
C R
CR
Servicio de Neonatología del Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid.
de la Cruz Bertolo
J
J
Medina López
M C
MC
de Alba Romero
C
C
Orbea Gallardo
C
C
Belaustegui Cueto
A
A
Rodríguez-Gimenez
C
C
D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016037:Single-Blind Method
Evolución a los 3 años de edad de una cohorte de recién nacidos de muy bajo peso.