Health status and health-related quality of life in a population-based sample of neonatal intensive care unit graduates.

Objective: To measure the health status (HS) and health-related quality of life (HRQL) of preschoolers who were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at birth and their family caregivers and to investigate differences in HS and HRQL in relation to gestational age and major morbidity experienced during the NICU stay.

Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional survey was conducted in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A total of 1140 of 2221 children who were admitted at birth to the 3 tertiary care NICUs in the province and 393 of 718 healthy full-term children recruited from 2 of these hospitals were studied.

Health related quality of life in 3 and 4 year old children and their parents: preliminary findings about a new questionnaire.

Background: Few measures of health related quality of life exist for use with preschool aged children. The objective of this study was to assess reliability and validity of a new multidimensional generic measure of health-related quality of life developed for use with preschool children.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey sent to parents as their child turned 3 1/2 years of age.

Are there developmentally distinct motor indicators of pain in preterm infants?

The aims of this study were to examine preterm infant reactions to pain in detail over prolonged time periods using multiple measures, and to assess the value of including specific body movements of the Neonatal Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) system to evaluate pain. Ten preterm infants born at 31 weeks mean gestational age (GA) and mean birth weight 1676 g were studied during a routine blood collection in a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). At 32-week post-conceptional age, computerized physiologic and video recordings were obtained continuously for 60 min (prior to, during and after lance).