Nine-year follow-up of infants weighing 1 500 g or less at birth.

A nine-year follow-up of 116 children born consecutively in 1971-74 with a birthweight of 1 500 g or less showed that 59 had died. Of those who were alive, four had severe motor and/or mental handicaps and three were blind because of retrolental fibroplasia. The low birthweight children without severe handicaps were found to have impaired motor function, speech defects and impaired school achievement more often than the controls. There was a significant correlation between the test results at the age of five and nine years, which indicates that children with school failure can be recognized and early remedial treatment started before school or on starting school.