Males with Low Birthweight Examined at 18 Years of Age

Abstract

An 18-yr follow-up study of 105 [human] males born in 1962/1963 with birthweight .ltoreq. 2500 g was made at the military draft broad examinations in 1981. Medical and psychological tests were compared to the tests of the total cohort of 35,728 Norwegian conscripts. Early neonatal mortality in the study was 15.2%, and of those examined at 18 yr of age was 6.7% unfit for military service, compared to 6.2% in the total cohort. Ten organ systems were analyzed, significantly increased frequency of unfitness being found only for vision. Intelligence testing was done on 71 of the studied subjects, and the mean was the same as the national average. Children with weight-for-date centile < 10 at birth had the same general intelligence at 18 yr as the national average. Weight and height at adult age were significantly correlated to the weight-for-date at birth. Those low birthweight children who survived the neonatal period in the beginning of the 1960a were, except for stature and minor defects of vision, indistinguishable from those of normal birthweight at the age of 18.