The status at two years of low-birth-weight infants born in 1974 with birth weights of less than 1,001 gm

Abstract

A two-year follow-up study of 43 infants of birth weight less than or equal to 1,000 gm born during 1974 revealed the following: average height at two years was between the tenth and twenty-fifth percentiles; average weight between the third and tenth percentiles. Fifteen (35%) developed lower respiratory tract infections during the first two years. Seven (16%) had retrolental fibroplasia. Major neurologic defects occurred in four (9%); severe developmental delay (mean developmental quotient less than 80) was found in nine others (21%). Defects of the central nervous system were closely associated with a neonatal history of intracranial hemorrhage or seizures or both.