Aggressive intervention for preemies is beneficial
A study of premature infants born almost three months early shows that they can survive without major handicaps, say researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Despite a belief by many that babies born at 23 and 24 weeks will either die or have severe handicaps, the small study suggests that isn't necessarily true, Douglas Derleth, MD, reported at the Pediatric Academic Society's annual meeting in New Orleans. He studied 10 infants born at 23 to 24 weeks at the Mayo Clinic in 1991 and 1992 who were given at least one aggressive type of treatment to keep them alive. Half of the babies were delivered by cesarean and two required cardiopulmonary resuscitation at birth. Four infants required high frequency ventilation, and six needed strong medications to regulate their blood pressure. Only one infant died.
Follow-up studies of the infants showed that at age four, one of the surviving nine is normal and two are mildly handicapped. All of those three have IQs above 84. Among the other six, four have IQs from 68 to 84 and are moderately handicapped. The remaining two are not able to walk independently, but can speak and are interactive.
"This study emphasizes how hard it is to predict how these tiny babies will do when they grow up," said Derleth in a statement. He noted that the families of the children supported aggressive interventions. "In global terms, it is important that parents have a lot of say in treatment." The study, he said, "adds a little more information that helps us be a little more concise, "when explaining outcomes to parents of premature infants," Derleth concluded.
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