Perinatal and Environmental Factors in Late Neurogenic Sequelae

Abstract

THE PRESENT STUDY was concerned with the relationships of perinatal and environmental factors to subsequent mental development of infants with birth weights from 1,500 gm to 2,500 gm. A companion study in this clinic on infants with birth weights under 1,500 gm suggested that certain types of respiratory difficulty, toxemia of pregnancy in the mothers, and a limited formal education of the parents were possibly important factors in the failure of some infants to develop normal intellectual capacity.¹ Previous studies by others have indicated that the incidence of late unfavorable neurogenic sequelae among premature infants was inverse to birth weight, suggesting that different factors might be operating as birth weight increases or that the same factors were operating but with different intensity.^2-11 The present investigation, like the companion study previously reported, was a prospective one that placed special emphasis on respiratory difficulties in the neonatal period, but also