ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews literature on the mortality and morbidity of very low birth-weight infants and point out the strengths and limitations of individual studies. It analyses the methodological standards which should be observed by investigators conducting longitudinal studies on high risk infants and the biases which, if present, may reduce the validity of the finding. The key question for neonatologists is whether modern perinatal intensive care has resulted in an increase or decrease in neurodevelopmental impairments. Attempts should be made to obtain population-based mortality and morbidity data to determine the true prevalence of impairments and changes over time. Economic evaluation of perinatal intensive care and other programs should be conducted periodically to determine the costs of interventions to the family, society and health care funding resources. Multicenter-controlled perinatal trials should be encouraged to obtain an adequate sample size to provide conclusive answers over a short period.
