Each year in UK, 10,000 children are born very premature, before seven months pregnant. Medical advances have helped improve survival. But, growing up, these children are likely to present problems of development and know the difficulties of learning. Medical follow-up of children born large medical prematuresSuivi children born very prematurely Today, major represent 1.3 % of preterm births, or approximately 10,000 newborns per year in UK. With advances in treatment, their care has greatly improved. However, prematurity can have great consequences on the fate of the child. The study Epipage (epidemiology of small gestational age), launched by the Institute of Health Surveillance (InVS) in 1997, is interested in the health of these great premature as they grow. The study followed children born very prematurely and has ties words to compare their health status at age five and their academic status at the age of eight years..
The results, published recently, show that the occurrence of a mobility impairment, sensory and cognitive development is more common in older preterm than in term infants. The study also shows that these children often receive care specific. At the age of five years, about 40 % of children born preterm motor impairment (cerebral palsy), mental retardation or sensory impairments (visual and auditory). If the majority has only a slight handicap, they are few to live with serious sequelae: cerebral palsy walking without possible severe mental retardation, blindness and deafness. The study also points out that behavioral disorders are twice as frequent. At the age of five years, 21% of babies born before term broad Emotional disorders are hyperactive and 18%, against 9% of term infants. At the age of eight years, only 1% of term infants are placed in specialized institutions. Among the major premature, however they are 5 % to be educated in this type of establishment.


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