Self-reported adolescent health status of extremely low birth weight children born 1992-1995.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the self-reported health of extremely low birth weight (ELBW, <1 kg) adolescents with that of normal birth weight (NBW) controls and the children's assessments of their general health at ages 8 versus 14 years.


METHODS
One hundred sixty-eight ELBW children and 115 NBW controls of similar gender and sociodemographic status completed the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition at age 14 years. It includes 6 domains: Satisfaction, Comfort, Resilience, Risk Avoidance, Achievement, and Disorders. At age 8 years, the children had completed the Child Health and Illness Profile-Child Edition. Results were compared between ELBW and NBW subjects adjusting for gender and sociodemographic status.


RESULTS
ELBW adolescents rated their health similar to that of NBW adolescents in the domains of Satisfaction, Comfort, Resilience, Achievement and Disorders but reported more Risk Avoidance (effect size [ES] 0.6, P < .001). In the subdomain of Resilience, they also noted less physical activity (ES -0.58, P < .001), and in the subdomain of Disorders, more long-term surgical (ES -0.49) and psychosocial disorders (ES -0.49; both P < .01). Both ELBW and NBW children reported a decrease in general health between ages 8 and 14 years, which did not differ significantly between groups.


CONCLUSIONS
ELBW adolescents report similar health and well-being compared with NBW controls but greater risk avoidance. Both ELBW and NBW children rate their general health to be poorer at age 14 than at age 8 years, possibly due to age-related developmental changes.
Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. mxh7@case.edu
Maureen
M
Hack
Mark
M
Schluchter
Christopher B
CB
Forrest
H Gerry
HG
Taylor
Dennis
D
Drotar
Grayson
G
Holmbeck
Eric
E
Youngstrom
Seunghee
S
Margevicius
Laura
L
Andreias
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D057566:Self Report