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


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Only gestational age at delivery was significantly associated with composite adverse outcome in VLBW preterm infants.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Milano-Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Fondazione MBBM, Monza, Italy.
Isabella
I
Crippa
Anna
A
Locatelli
Sara
S
Consonni
Alessandro
A
Ghidini
Patrizia
P
Stoppa
Giuseppe
G
Paterlini
Nadia
N
Roncaglia
D015331:Cohort Studies; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies