Excess mortality and morbidity among small-for-gestational-age premature infants: a population-based study.

Objective: We examined the effect of intrauterine growth restriction on mortality and morbidity in the Israel cohort of very low birth weight premature infants.

Methods: The study population included 2764 singleton very low birth weight infants without congenital malformations born from 24 to 31 weeks of gestation during 1995 to 1999. Four hundred six (15%) were born small for gestational age (SGA). The effect of SGA on death, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and retinopathy of prematurity was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis.

Results: After adjustment for perinatal risk factors, SGA infants had a 4.52-fold risk for death (95% CI, 3.24-6.33), a 3.42-fold risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (95% CI, 2.29-5.13), and a 2.06-fold risk for grade 3 to 4 retinopathy of prematurity (95% CI, 1.15-3.66).

Conclusions: SGA premature infants had an increased risk for death, and major morbidity among survivors was increased.