BACKGROUND Very preterm (VP; gestational age <32 weeks) and very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500 g) births are related to impaired cognitive function across the life span. It is not known how stable cognitive functions are from childhood to adulthood for VP/VLBW compared with term-born individuals and how early adult cognitive function can be predicted. METHODS The Bavarian Longitudinal Study i...

Adults born preterm at very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500 g) have higher blood pressure than those born at term. It is not known whether all VLBW adults are at risk or whether higher blood pressure could be attributed to some of the specific conditions underlying or accompanying preterm birth. To identify possible risk or protective factors, we combined individual-level data from 9 cohorts that...

BACKGROUND Young adults born preterm at very low birth weight (VLBW, ≤1500 g) have higher levels of cardiovascular risk factors, including impaired glucose regulation, than their term-born peers. This could be mediated through altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) response to stress. OBJECTIVE To compare HPAA, glucose and insulin responses provoked by psychosocial stress in VLBW ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the growth and pubertal development of very low-birth-weight (VLBW) children (birth weight <1500 g) and normal-birth-weight (NBW) children (birth weight >2499 g) to adolescence to determine if, and at what age, VLBW children "catch up." DESIGN Inception cohort study to age 14 years. SETTING Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. PATIENTS Eighty-six consecutive ...

BACKGROUND Being born with very low birth weight (VLBW: ≤ 1,500 g) is related to long-term disability and neurodevelopmental problems, possibly affecting mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, studies in young adulthood yield mixed findings. The aim of this study was to examine mental health and HRQoL at 23 years, including changes from 20 to 23 years and association...

AIMS To compare the visual function of a cohort of very low birthweight (VLBW) children in early adolescence with that of their normal birthweight peers; to correlate visual impairment in this group with available perinatal data; and to examine the relation between the visual ability of VLBW children and their cognitive and motor skills. METHODS As part of a long term neurodevelopmental study...

INTRODUCTION Recent attention has been focussed on pregnancy outcomes in developing countries, with the publication of the World Health Organization Report 2005, Make Every Mother and Child Count and the Neonatal Survival Series from the Lancet in 2005. Scant outcome data from the smaller islands of the Caribbean exist for very low birthweight (VLBW) babies (birthweight < 1500 g). PATIENTS AN...

The associations of infant medical risk, prematurity, and maternal psychological distress with the quality of maternal-infant interactions during the first year of life were evaluated in a prospective, longitudinal follow-up from birth. A total of 103 high-risk very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, 68 low-risk VLBW infants without bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the pain relief effect of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) and Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) on the pain associated with adhesive tape removal in very low birth weight (VLBW) neonates. DESIGN Randomized Controlled Trial. SETTING Neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS 15 VLBW neonates who needed adhesive tape removal for the first part ...

OBJECTIVES We examined whether adults born preterm at very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500 g) differ from term-born adults in autism-spectrum traits, and whether among VLBW adults, growth in infancy is associated with these traits. METHODS A total of 110 VLBW and 104 term-born adults of the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient yielding total, soc...