Remaining sequelae with modern perinatal care.

The incidence of major sequelae-cerebral palsy (CP), psychomotor retardation (PMR), sensorineural hearing defect, and acquired hydrocephalus--has been studied retrospectively in a nonselected population of 6,5000 3-year-old children born in 1969 and 1970 at one Swedish hospital and treated uniformly according to the principles of modern perinatology. The total incidence of these four types of handicaps was 3.5 per 1,000 when children with congenital malformation syndromes, chromosomal aberrations, verified congenital viral infections, or toxoplasmosis were excluded. The incidence of CP was 1.2 per 1,000. Extreme immaturity, traumatic delivery, postnatal asphyxia, and hyperbilirubinemia were found to be relatively small factors as causes of sequelae in this population. Babies showing various degrees of intrauterine malnutrition were found to be the major remaining group at risk for PMR and/or CP, two thirds of children with these handicaps being recruited from the 16% of newborns with birthweights more than 1 SD below normal in relation to gestational age. The most important further gains can probably be made by earlier intrauterine diagnosis of these cases, induced termination of pregnancy in selected cases, and further studies on the perinatal treatment and adaptation of these infants.