AIM To compare the growth of very low birthweight (VLBW) children in early adolescence with that of their normal birthweight peers; to examine the role of factors contributing to growth-parental height, perinatal variables, bone maturity and sexual maturation; to examine the correlation between head growth and cognitive and educational outcome. METHODS Standing and sitting heights, weight, oc...

Neonatal sepsis remains one of the most important causes of death and co-morbidity in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. The aim of this study was to determine the current incidences of early-onset sepsis (EOS) and late-onset sepsis (LOS), the distribution of pathogens, and the impact of infection on co-morbidities in VLBW infants. We analyzed the data including sepsis episode from 2,386 VLB...

CONTEXT Little is known about the mental health outcomes of very low-birth-weight (VLBW) (< 1500 g) infants in young adulthood. OBJECTIVE To test whether young adults aged 18 to 27 years with VLBW differ from term control subjects in depressive symptoms, current use of antidepressant medication, and the rate of depression diagnosed by a physician. DESIGN Retrospective longitudinal study. ...

Apnea is nearly universal among very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, and the associated bradycardia and desaturation may have detrimental consequences. We describe here very long (>60 s) central apnea events (VLAs) with bradycardia and desaturation, discovered using a computerized detection system applied to our database of over 100 infant years of electronic signals. Eighty-six VLAs occurred ...

PURPOSE (1) To explore the experience of non-English-speaking mothers with preterm, very low birth weight (VLBW) infants (,1,500 g); and (2) to examine mothers' assessment of a peer support program matching them with linguistically and culturally similar parent-buddies. DESIGN An exploratory, qualitative analysis based on grounded theory. SAMPLE A convenience sample of eight mothers from fo...

BACKGROUND Information on birth outcome among the Asian and Pacific Islander populations in the US is limited. This report examines the risks of moderately low (MLBW) and very low birthweight (VLBW) among six Asian subgroups (Chinese, Japanese, Fillipinos, Asian Indians, Koreans, Vietnamese) and three Pacific Islander subgroups (Hawaiians, Guamanians, Samoans) as compared with non-Hispanic whit...

While mortality rates for VLBW infants have declined, there has been increasing concern about their long-term morbidity rates. A small proportion (10% to 15%) of VLBW infants are born with severe neurosensory handicaps such as blindness, deafness, or cerebral palsy, and 30-60% go on to show cognitive deficits, learning disabilities and language impairments. 1,2 VLBW children have been found to ...

INTRODUCTION Whether parenteral nutrition benefits growth of very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants in the setting of rapid enteral feeding advancement is unclear. Our aim was to examine this issue using data from Japan, where enteral feeding typically advances at a rapid rate. METHODS We studied 4005 hospitalized VLBW, very preterm (23-32 weeks' gestation) infants who reached full ente...

UNLABELLED A prospective follow-up of very low birth weight infants (VLBW) with (n = 89) and without (n = 71) bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and Term control children (n = 93) was conducted at 8 years of age. Groups were compared on measures of articulation, receptive and expressive language, verbal and performance IQ, oral motor skills and gross and fine motor skills. The BPD group demonstra...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Pneumothorax is common in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. In our NICU, we noted an above average incidence of pneumothorax compared with similar NICUs based on Vermont Oxford Network benchmarking. The quality improvement project was designed to decrease the incidence of pneumothorax in VLBW infants in a tertiary care NICU. METHODS The project was divided into 2 ...