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Published online 5 January 2005 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news050103-5

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Premature births lead to wide-ranging disabilities

But cognitive difficulties prove more prevalent than cerebral palsy.

Only a quarter of babies born after fewer than 26 weeks in the womb make it to childhood. And even those that do survive have just a 20% chance of being free of disability by the time they are six years old, British doctors have revealed.

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