[Clinical risk index for small premature infants].
BACKGROUND
The clinical risk index for babies (CRIB) is a score given to extremely small prematures as a tool for expressing initial sickness. It was developed in order to compare results among different neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).


METHODS
The CRIB score was determined for prematures with birth weight < or = 1,000 g born at the Central Hospital in Akershus during the 1995-99 period. The results are measured as the survival rate until discharge.


RESULTS
45 babies where treated at our NICU during this five-year period. Median gestation age was 27 weeks (range: 23-32 weeks), median birth weight was 875 g (range: 475-1,000 g), median CRIB was 4 (range: 1-16). The survival rate until discharge was 89%. To validate the CRIB score as a predictor for hospital mortality, a receiver-operating curve (ROC) was constructed. The area under the ROC curve was 0.93.


CONCLUSIONS
CRIB proved to be a good predictor for hospital mortality and seems a useful indicator for initial sickness.
Døhlen
G
G
Barneavdelingen Sentralsykehuset i Akershus 1474 Nordbyhagen. gaute@online.no
Farstad
T
T
D005865:Gestational Age; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*