Association between gestational and environmental events and central nervous system function in 7-year-old children.

The prevalence of variables frequently associated with low birthweight was compared in samples of low-birthweight (LBW) infants and normal-birthweight infants (single births of the white race) drawn from the Boston component of the Collaborative Perinatal Research Project. Then the association between these exposure variables and central nervous system function at 7 years was examined in the LBW infants. Finally the interrelationships of the five variables having the strongest association with abnormal or suspect CNS function were examined with regard to their joint predictive utility.