Parents and clinicians disagree on extent of developmental problems in their preterm babies

Abstract

Do parents know what it means when their babies are born preterm? Not always, according to a recent study. Unfortunately, this can have life-or-death consequences if the risk of neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) is overestimated by clinicians, according to the multicenter study, led by clinicians and researchers in Canada. The study showed that parents' views should be incorporated into definitions of NDI, according to the authors. The main problem is that definitions of NDI were developed without the perspectives of parents, the researchers note. So there is little agreement between parental and medical classification of NDI in preterm children. The study involved parents of 1098 children, and the children, born at under 29 weeks gestation.