Prognosis of preterm infants with a birth weight <1,501 g
Gynakol Geburtshilfliche Rundsch, 44 (1):
19--24 (January 2004)DOI: 10.1159/000074313
Abstract
The prognosis of very low birth weight infants (birth weight <1,501 g) is correlated with gestational age. Mortality is between 10 and 16\%, showing high numbers in infants < or = 26 weeks of gestation. Looking at the low-term outcome, cerebral palsy is the most prevalent major disability with an incidence of 8\%. Similar to mortality, the incidence of cerebral palsy is inversely proportional to gestational age. A clinically verified chorioamnionitis increases the risk of developing cerebral palsy by a factor of up to 4.