[Survival in relation to gestational age in delivery before 32 complete weeks of pregnancy with low birth weights, 1,500 g or under].

In a retrospective study, all deliveries at Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen, with birth weights < or = 1500 g and gestational ages of 23 to 32 completed weeks were examined to find out how they were recorded and the survival of the baby. Sixty-one were registered as abortions, 151 as births. Sixteen infants (10.2%) were registered as stillborn and 9 (6.7%) were live born without major malformations but died in the delivery ward without transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital. The survival for infants without severe malformations was 72.4% for all liveborn infants, and 77.6% for infants transferred to the NICU. The youngest surviving infant was born after 24 completed weeks of gestation. Because of different criteria for selection, comparison between different studies is difficult. This investigation shows that registration of very premature deliveries can be heterogenous. This is of great importance for survival and outcome rates because of the small number of very premature infants. We suggest a registration of all deliveries taking place after 22 completed weeks of gestation including birth weight, gestational age, pulse, respiratory movements, lethal malformations and time of death to ensure a better knowledge of the prognosis of these tiny infants.