Mortality and Hospitalizations of 24-Year-Old Members of the Low-Birthweight Cohort in Northern Finland

• Published in: Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 662 - 665
• Main Authors: Xu, Baizhuang, Rantakallio, Paula, Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Epidemiology Resources Inc 01-11-1998; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis. Health state; Biological and medical sciences; Birth weight; Brief Reports; Child; Child health services; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Children; Death; Epidemiology; Female; Finland - epidemiology; Follow-Up Studies; General aspects; Health Status; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Infancy; Infant; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Low birth weight; Male; Medical sciences; Mortality; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Risk Factors; School age children; Europe; Finland; Human; Very low birthweight; Newborn diseases; Pregnancy disorders; Prematurity; Mortality; Young adult; Risk factor; Low birth weight; Hospitalization; Epidemiology; Public health
• ISSN: 1044-3983; 1531-5487
• DOI: 10.1097/00001648-199811000-00017

We followed 11,355 children born in 1966 up to the age of 24 years to investigate the impact of birthweight on long-term outcomes of death and development. As expected, low-birthweight (LBW, 1500-2,499 gm) children showed a higher risk of death than normal-birthweight (NBW, ≥2,500 gm) children before the age of 15 years. Rate ratios for LBW children ranged from 25 for the first week of life to 2.5 for ages 5-14 years. Rate ratios of very-low-birthweight (VLBW, <1,500 gm) children for the first year of life were 10 times higher than those of LBW children. Similarly, for the first 14 years of life, surviving LBW children experienced a higher risk of being hospitalized as well as staying in hospitals for over 2 weeks if they were hospitalized. The LBW children still had a higher risk of receiving sick pensions at the age of 24 years.