Neurologic and Developmental Disability at Six Years of Age after Extremely Preterm Birth

Birth before 26 weeks of gestation is associated with a high prevalence of neurologic and developmental disabilities in the infant during the first two years of life.

We studied at the time of early school age children who had been born at 25 or fewer completed weeks of gestation in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1995. Each child had been evaluated at 30 months of age. The children underwent standardized cognitive and neurologic assessments at six years of age. Disability was defined as severe (indicating dependence on caregivers), moderate, or mild according to predetermined criteria.