Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Corneliu Bolbocean¹, Sylvia van der Pal², Stef van Buuren², Peter J Anderson^{3

4}, Peter Bartmann⁵, Nicole Baumann^{3

6

7}, Jeanie L Y Cheong⁸, Brian A Darlow⁹, Lex W Doyle^{8

10}, Kari Anne I Evensen^{11

12}, John Horwood¹³, Marit S Indredavik¹¹, Samantha Johnson⁶, Neil Marlow¹⁴, Marina Mendonça⁸, Yanyan Ni^{8

14}, Dieter Wolke¹⁵, Lianne Woodward¹⁶, Erik Verrips², Stavros Petrou¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK. Corneliu.Bolbocean@phc.ox.ac.uk.
² Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, The Hague, the Netherlands.
³ Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Department of Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care, University Hospital Bonn, Children's Hospital, Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK.
⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Newborn Services, Royal Women's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁹ Department of Paediatrics, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹¹ Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹² Department of Rehabilitation Science and Health Technology, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
¹³ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁴ UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick and Division of Health Sciences, Warwick, UK.
¹⁶ Faculty of Health, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁷ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK.

PMID: 36287335
PMCID: PMC9813180
DOI: 10.1007/s40273-022-01201-2

Meta-Analysis

Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Corneliu Bolbocean et al. Pharmacoeconomics. 2023 Jan.

. 2023 Jan;41(1):93-105.

doi: 10.1007/s40273-022-01201-2. Epub 2022 Oct 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK. Corneliu.Bolbocean@phc.ox.ac.uk.
² Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, The Hague, the Netherlands.
³ Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Department of Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care, University Hospital Bonn, Children's Hospital, Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK.
⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Newborn Services, Royal Women's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁹ Department of Paediatrics, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹¹ Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹² Department of Rehabilitation Science and Health Technology, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
¹³ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁴ UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick and Division of Health Sciences, Warwick, UK.
¹⁶ Faculty of Health, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁷ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK.

PMID: 36287335
PMCID: PMC9813180
DOI: 10.1007/s40273-022-01201-2

Erratum in

Correction: Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.
Bolbocean C, van der Pal S, van Buuren S, Anderson PJ, Bartmann P, Baumann N, Cheong JLY, Darlow BA, Doyle LW, Evensen KAI, Horwood J, Indredavik MS, Johnson S, Marlow N, Mendonça M, Ni Y, Wolke D, Woodward L, Verrips E, Petrou S. Bolbocean C, et al. Pharmacoeconomics. 2025 Jul;43(7):841-844. doi: 10.1007/s40273-025-01502-2. Pharmacoeconomics. 2025. PMID: 40408034 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background and objective: Assessment of health-related quality of life for individuals born very preterm and/or low birthweight (VP/VLBW) offers valuable complementary information alongside biomedical assessments. However, the impact of VP/VLBW status on health-related quality of life in adulthood is inconclusive. The objective of this study was to examine associations between VP/VLBW status and preference-based health-related quality-of-life outcomes in early adulthood.

Methods: Individual participant data were obtained from five prospective cohorts of individuals born VP/VLBW and controls contributing to the 'Research on European Children and Adults Born Preterm' Consortium. The combined dataset included over 2100 adult VP/VLBW survivors with an age range of 18-29 years. The main exposure was defined as birth before 32 weeks' gestation (VP) and/or birth weight below 1500 g (VLBW). Outcome measures included multi-attribute utility scores generated by the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 and the Short Form 6D. Data were analysed using generalised linear mixed models in a one-step approach using fixed-effects and random-effects models.

Results: VP/VLBW status was associated with a significant difference in the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 multi-attribute utility score of - 0.06 (95% confidence interval - 0.08, - 0.04) in comparison to birth at term or at normal birthweight; this was not replicated for the Short Form 6D. Impacted functional domains included vision, ambulation, dexterity and cognition. VP/VLBW status was not associated with poorer emotional or social functioning, or increased pain.

Conclusions: VP/VLBW status is associated with lower overall health-related quality of life in early adulthood, particularly in terms of physical and cognitive functioning. Further studies that estimate the effects of VP/VLBW status on health-related quality-of-life outcomes in mid and late adulthood are needed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

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Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Affiliations

Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources