Health-related quality of life in very low birth weight children at nearly eight years of age.

Aim: This study examined the impact of prematurity-related morbidity on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of premature children at eight years of age, compared to term born controls of same age.

Methods: We focused on 155 premature, very low birth weight (VLBW) infants weighing up to 1500 g who were born from 2001 to 2006 in Turku University Hospital, Finland, and compared them with 129 full-term controls. Cognitive development and length was assessed at five years of age and the children self-reported 17 dimensions of HRQoL at eight years of age. The VLBW group was subdivided into healthy children and those with prematurity-related morbidities.

Results: Our findings showed that 64.5% of the VLBW children did not have prematurity-related morbidities. The HRQoL of the healthy preterm VLBW children was very good and did not differ significantly from the controls. However, the VLBW children with one or more morbidities had significantly lower scores in nine of the 17 HRQoL dimensions than the children in the control group.

Conclusion: The majority of the VLBW children survived without prematurity-related morbidities, and their HRQoL was very good and similar to the control children. The main goal of neonatal care for preterm infants should be to prevent long-term morbidities.