Clinicians face significant challenges in making care decisions for extremely preterm infants. They make decisions about individual patients based on particular situations and using the best available information at the time.
The information on this Web site is intended to better inform health care providers and families about possible infant outcomes based on standardized assessments. It is not intended to be the only information that care decisions are based on, nor is it intended to be a definitive means of predicting infant outcomes. Users should keep in mind that every infant is an individual, and that factors beyond those used to formulate these standardized assessments may influence an infant’s outcomes.
The NICHD NRN, supported through the NICHD’s Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, was established in 1986 to improve the care and outcomes of neonates, especially very-low-birth weight infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), through research. The NRN includes investigators from 16 university-based clinical centers, a Network Data Coordinating Center, and NICHD staff.
To address the major problem areas in neonatology, the Network employs randomized controlled trials, studies, and outcomes research. Among these efforts is data collection on the outcomes of extremely preterm infants based on several specific and standardized assessments. The information* included here describes the outcomes for infants born at NRN centers between 1998 and 2003, based on specific standardized assessments.
(* Tyson JE, Parikh NA, Langer J, Green C, Higgins RD. [2008]. Intensive care for extreme prematurity: Moving beyond gestational age. N Engl J Med, 358, 1672-1681.)
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