Determinants of Neurobehavioral Outcome in Low-Birth-Weight Infants

The relative importance of (1) birth weight, gestational age, and head circumference at birth, and (2) appropriateness of birth weight and head circumference to gestational age in the predictability of neurobehavioral outcome was evaluated in 127 low-birth-weight infants at 7 months of age. Lower absolute birth weights, shorter gestational ages, and smaller head circumferences at birth correlated with poorer outcome (Bayley Scales of Infant Development and abnormal neurologic examination) at the corrected chronologic age of 7 months (r = .28 to .42, all P