Abstract 166

Objectives: The aim was to follow-up, at minimal expense, a hospital based cohort of ELBW babies to assess mortality and the incidence of major developmental problems at school age.

Methods: Study infants were those born in 1990 admitted to our intensive care nursery (ICN), and the sub-group who survived to discharge. We surveyed survivor's parents, teachers and doctors, this included the Revised Denver Pre-screening Developmental Questionnaire (R-PDQ) sent to parents. Data from our prospectively maintained neonatal database were collected on the antenatal history, the delivery and details of the infants hospital stay. Data from our questionnaires included hearing, vision, behaviour, parental assessment of intelligence and motor skills, and school progress.

Results: 49 ELBW infants born in 1990 were admitted to ICN. 32(65%) survived to discharge. Survival to 2 years was 31/49 (63%) and to 5 years was 29/48 (60%). Follow-up data are available for 29 children (91%). 22(76% of survivors) had no evidence of developmental delay on R-PDQ. Infants with developmental delay had a longer stay in hospital (median 151 days Vs 98 days, P<0.01), longer on ventilation (median 681 hours Vs 386 hours, P<0.05), and oxygen (median 2,328 hours Vs 671 hours, P<0.05), more blood transfusions (median of 6 Vs 3.5, P<0.05), their worst ever pH was lower (median 7.21 Vs 7.23, P<0.05), their worst ever PaCO2 was higher (median 78 mmHg Vs 62, P<0.05), and their worst ever base excess was lower (median -9.3 Vs -7.0, P<0.05). Infants with developmental delay had more chronic lung disease (7/7 Vs 10/22, P<0.05) and post-natal steroids (6/7 Vs 6/22, P<0.05). Excluding the time input of one senior registrar collecting data during clinical duties the cost of data collection was <$1.50 (AUD) per infant.

Conclusions: Our rate of survival and developmental delay compare favourably with similar Australian cohorts. If further research confirmed the reliability of the R-PDQ in our population, it could become a valuable tool in the absence of better funded, more intensive, follow-up programs.