Effects of Premature Birth Felt into Adulthood

I'm now 52 years old, and I was born prematurely at 26 weeks. Back then (in the late 1950's), obviously, medicine was not nearly as advanced as it is now, so I count myself as one of the very, very lucky preemies. When I was born, I weighed 2 lbs. and 11 ounces...then dropped to 2 lbs. and 2 ounces. I was on the "critical list" for two weeks and almost didn't make it.
As far as any problems, I am very nearsighted (and began wearing glasses in the third grade), but who knows whether or not that can be attributed to being a preemie. Other than that, I never had any issues (developmental or social) that could be considered problems.

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I was born in 1947 and premature. Yes, I had some difficulties at school and with my health. Some of it may have come from the fact my Mom did not eat as well as she should have. Who knows? For those who suffer no ill effects, God Bless You!

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My twins were born nine and a half weeks premature 29 years ago. My son had the most problems ranging from pulmonary to brain bleed. Five of his many problems were life threatening and he was seven weeks old before they could tell me for sure that I would ever take him home. He now over six feet tall has had maybe two cold bugs in the last 20 years and no residual of his prematurity today (beside the scar on his wrist where they had to tie off stitches, where they were tying off what had been an arterial shunt, quickly as he quit breathing that he complains about having). His sister grew quickly. Other than sinus problems and migraines she inherited, sinus from her dad and migraines from me, she is in excellent health. This study seems to not have studied preemies nationally but locally.

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Our son was born 2 months early and weighed in at 2 lbs. 13 oz and that was 30 years ago come this September. He has been healthy with the except of allergies and full term baby's have allergies. He played football,basketball and baseball all through school. He graduated from High School with honors and went to college. He now Director of Store Operations for a major comany in Hawaii. HOW'S THAT FOR A PREEMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be careful of how you instill fear into parents. The Neonatial care now is far superior to what it was 30 years ago. Praise be for that.

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That theory is totally false. Preemies grow up to be smarter, healthier and more social. Sorry, you are wrong.

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my twins are 36.they were born at 30 weeks and i didnt even know i was having twins.
my son's lungs collapsed and he has c.p , spastic quad.,mentally retarded and legally blind.he was 3.lb13 oz.
my daughter was 3.lb4 oz and is legally blind in 1 eye.they were given too much oxygen at birth.

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I am glad this nurse's study has been recognized. My Grandson was also a premie (30 weeks and 2# 12 ounces) and so far, at 7 years of age, is doing very well. I have seen others though with problems that do continue into adulthood. When I was a student nurse, ventilators were just beginning to be tried for premature infants - we have come a very long way in caring for our smallest babies in the intervening years, A great many of these patients do have good outcomes, and I think the number is improving every year due to the advances in medical and nursing practice.
My only question is why in the world did you pick this picture of a baby in an isolette? Looking at the size and shape of this infant, I would say it is probably a term infant (40 weeks gestation) - or pretty close, and probably large for gestational age instead of small! Please be more accurate when providing pictures for your articles.

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What's with the picture. That is no preemie!

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My identical twin and I were born 1-1/2 months prematurely in the early 1950's. We weighed just over three pounds and the other just over four pounds. We had problems eating - ended up on special formula and needed to be hospitalized for one (and one and a half) months. Other than being tiny (wedding ring could pass over our legs) we did well. Over all we were good students, athletic and healthy. In adulthood, our health is no different than others of our age group.

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My 18 yr old was considered premie born 3 weeks early and put in a neo natal unit for almost two weeks, I was put in the iccu during that time. I had peri pardum cardio myapathy after having strep during my pregnancy. I had to be brought back to life twice once minutes before she was born and after it. I feared that the lack of oxygen would effect her. The hospital told me that they didn't know if she was going to have any issues as she got older. Immediately they told me to take her to a Neurologist - they thought she had floppy muscles. I couldn't see or touch her for 5 days since I was on a respirator still fighting for my life. I also worried that she wouldn't attach to me since I could not breatfeed since I was now on heart medicine and I wasn't allowed to pick her up - I could only hold her if someone placed her in my arms. She gained and grew at the normal rate. She is a beautiful happy girl that has excelled in school she is 5'6" passing her older sister who is 8 yrs older and came one week late and is only 5'2". She graduated in the top 25% of her high school and has been accepted in the Honors program in Molloy College. To give back she is becoming a nurse. She actually wants to work in Emergency- which we all credit for successfully keeping us alive. I guess it doesn't hurt knowing that there could have been issues. I am blessed that she is well.

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I think this is a whole lot of baloney. All four of my mother's babies were preemies - including me (born at home a 7 month baby). Here I am 74 years old, made excellent grades in school and have none of the problems these crazies are talking about. In fact all four of us have flourished and done well. Wish they would quit coming up with all this hogwash.

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This is NOT hype. Why be defensive? This *is* a reality: many
extreme preemies *do* suffer learning disabilities, processing
disorders, ADD/ADHD, and various respiratory disorders. However, none
of these spell certain failure. My surviving triplet, 14 y/o,1#14oz
at birth, has an extremely high IQ, (140+), however, he *does* have a
processing disorder, as well ADD. We have known for years that these
extreme preemies *do* face challenges, but foreknowledge is
forewarning. It is a parent's responsibility to know the law
regarding special education rights for these children, and to see to
it that these precious blessings, these miracles, these unbelievable
gifts, continue to have regular visits to their pediatricians,
ophthalmologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists.

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I like many of you had 3 preemie baby girls, my 1st daughter was full term weighing 6-14 my 2nd daughter was 6 weeks early weighing 3lbs 14 oz today she is a very healthy mother of 3 with no problems at all, my 3rd daughter was 12 weeks early weighing 2-12 she was always sickly and passed away at almost 5 months old of a lung infection my 4th daughter was 14 weeks erly and weighed 2-11 and today is 5'1" and weighs about 130 pounds she is a healthy happy soldier in the US Army. So it can go either way for our precious children.

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My daughter was born almost 19 years ago at 24and 1/2 weeks weighing only 1 lb 9oz. She just graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA and is heading to college with a merit scholarship. We were very fortunate that she did not sustain any bleeding in the brain. However, she did have Retinopathy of Prematurity stage 3 and did endure eye surgeries. She also was ventilated for 10 weeks and came home on oxygen. Fortunately, she has been very healthy her whole life...she was a cheerleader in high school and a dancer. She wears contacts for her far-sightedness and has some peripheral vision issues, but she can compensate for it and does drive a car. She will always maintain yearly eye and retinal checks (for dreaded detatchment) her whole life. We were extrememly lucky with her. There is some social awkwardness...but she gets by. Every preemie is different....every added day makes a huge difference on the outcome (whether they are born as just a bit premature or a super-preemie.)

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I have adopted a little girl that was born 3 mo. early she weighed around 2 lbs and was in the hospital for around 2 mo. Her home life was terrible, she was abused and locked in a room by herself almost all day long, she is fairly healthy but has a lot of mental and social disabilities, she is 5 now and I have has her since she was 2. This article really opened my eyes, kudos to those of you who could be there for your children to catch them up, I wish I could have been there for her, she faces many difficult roads ahead as she fights to have some type of normalcy in her life. I think it all depends on how much they are worked with and how much time the parents are willing to devote to them in the very beginning.

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I think someone had an agenda when they did this ' study'. ' why spend all those resources on them? They'll never be productive citizens, so just let them die.'

I was a preemie, or 'runt' as my parents have called me. I had respiratory problems and was on life support. The hospital gave me a 40% chance to live. I was sent home to die. I had the learning difficulties and social difficulties which I chalk up to anxiety disorders &/or ADHD, but have no 'official' diagnoses. I now have my high school diploma and 3 other diplomas, two of them being in the healthcare field. I am currently not in school because of finances, but am planning to return soon. Still working on the social skills, though.

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So far my preemie is doing well at school. My overterm child has the issues. My friend also had a preemie and then an overterm child and her preemie is fine now and her second born had issues. So, in my experience I see the opposite of what this survey found. Perhaps it is because the kids they followed are preemies from the 80's and 90's when the doctors did not have as much information and equipment as they did in the 2000's.

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Really? Who'd a thunk that babies that are born rematurely might have problems? Typical cream-of-wheat journalism. Meaning, it's meaningless. You can't mitigate the factors that go along with trying to save an incredibly fragile organism. They'd have to do multiple studies over a 20 year period to know whether their "mitigation" was effective or harmful. So, what do you tell the parents of the kid whose life was shortened by their experimental mitigation. Oops? How do you find a control group? "Well, we didn't really know if the process would help, so we needed some kids that had no mitigation to make a comparison with our experimental group. Sorry." Meaning that any of their attempts will be done without benefit of the scientific method. They did a similar thing to black men in an STD study many years ago. The control group didn't get anti-biotics. How do you sleep at night knowing that a human being has been diagnosed with a pernicious disease and you are giving them sugar pills in the name of "science"?

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I was premature and weighed very little at birth in the late 1950's. My diagnosis is mild cerebral palsy. I had a heart murmur at birth that went away, the usual lung problems that come from being a premature baby; and probably had sleep apnea from birth (but who knew about that 50 years ago)?

Yes, it has at times been a struggle. Today, I am Vice President of a non-profit where I have been employed for the past 21 years. Early on I had trouble getting and keeping a job. I credit my parents, for raising me to believe I was no better nor worse than anyone else -- and also hard work. Perhaps I had to work harder than anyone else to "prove" myself, but in the long run it served me well.

Studies are valuable, but there are all sorts of factors not addressed here that have an impact on health, learning, and the potential for success in life.

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