The Effect of Prematurity on Health and Growth

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Abstract
In a group of 500 premature and 492 full-term control infants, comparable in respect to various socioeconomic variables, the incidence of illness and physical defect and subsequent growth patterns in relation to weight at birth are compared. The findings agree with those of other investigations and indicate that at 40 weeks of age (corrected for estimated amount of prematurity) the premature infants are 0.5 to 1.0 inches shorter and 500-1000 g grams lighter, have 2-3 times as many physical defects, and have 50% more illness than full-term control infants. When the presence of serious neurologic abnormality resulting from cerebral damage is taken into account, the physical disadvantage of the premature infants is even more marked. The findings suggest that those factors responsible for producing the increased cerebral damage in premature infants have a generalized deleterious effect as well, and lend additional support to the necessity for preventing prematurity in order to effect substantial reductions in the incidence of physical and neuropsychiatric disability.