New research will allow doctors to more accurately update parents of extremely preterm babies about their baby’s long-term survival and health risks.
The study of 751 babies found babies born before 28 weeks cannot survive without intensive care.
It also found that the likelihood of extremely preterm babies surviving and doing so without long-term disability dramatically improved with each day they survived.
Even with intensive care treatment, those born at 23 weeks have only a 45 per cent chance of surviving.
Those odds dramatically improve if they survive the first week of life and by the time they go home their risk drops to below 1 per cent.
The research, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal, found that most babies born before 28 weeks will survive if they are offered intensive care, and that 83% who do survive and go home will subsequently have no major long-term disability – compared with 97% of children born on time.
Neonatologist and lead researcher A/Prof Jeanie Cheong, from the Royal Women’s Hospital, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and University of Melbourne, said the new information was positive news for families of extremely preterm babies.
“Our research has found that a baby’s risk of death dramatically declined in the first few days after birth, and by the time of their discharge home their risk of death was similar to healthy full-term babies,” she said.
“This is very encouraging news for parents who are often very frightened when taking their newborn baby home from hospital.”
The research is part of one of the world’s longest studies into the long-term effects of extremely preterm birth.
It was run by the Victorian Infant Collaborative Study (VICS), a collaborative group from the four major neonatal hospitals in Melbourne (The Royal Women’s Hospital, Mercy Hospital for Women, Monash Medical Centre and The Royal Children’s Hospital).
Every child born before 28 weeks or weighing less than 1000g and born in 1991/92, 1997, 2005 and 2016/17 were invited to take part of the VICS studies.
The study was funded in part by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence grant.
