Background Advances in perinatal care have increased the number of premature babies
who survive. There are concerns, however, about the ability of these children to cope with
the demands of adulthood. Methods We linked compulsory national registries in Norway to
identify children of different gestational-age categories who were born between 1967 and
1983 and to follow them through 2003 in order to document medical disabilities and
outcomes reflecting social performance. Results The study included 903,402 infants who�…

As the care of premature infants has improved and increasing numbers of premature babies
have survived, the increased prevalence of medical disabilities, learning difficulties, and
behavioral and psychologic problems has led to concerns about their ability to cope with
adult life. These long-term social outcomes have not been well described. Most follow-up
studies have focused on extremely premature infants, but data on moderately premature
babies are not as available. This study examined the relationship between gestational age�…