Mechanical ventilation of infants of less than 1,501 gm birth weight: Health, growth, and neurologic sequelae.

A two-year follow-up study of 73 low-birth-weight ( less than 1,501 gm) infants treated with positive pressure ventilation as neonates revealed the following: 24% incidence of lower respiratory tract infections during the first year; weight and height at two years averaging between tenth and twenty-fifth percentiles; major neurologic defects diagnosed in 14 boys (39%) and seven girls (18%) with one-year Bayley scores of less than 80. Major neurologic sequelae were closely associated with a neonatal history of seizures and intracranial hemorrhage and were more common in boys, survivors weighing more than 1,000 gm and following high-risk pregnancies.