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Objective:

Ethical dilemmas continue regarding resuscitation versus comfort care in extremely preterm infants. Counseling parents and making decisions regarding the care of these neonates should be based on reliable, unbiased and representative data drawn from geographically defined populations. We reviewed survival and morbidity data for our population at the edge of viability.

Study Design:

A retrospective review of our perinatal database was carried out to identify all infants born alive and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with BW⩽ 500 g between 1989 and 2009. Data from the initial hospital stay and follow-up at 24 months were collected.

Result:

Out of 22 672 NICU admissions, 273 were eligible: 212 neonates were reviewed after excluding infants with comfort care. BW ranged from 285 to 500 g (mean 448 g) and gestational age range 22 to 28 weeks (median 24 week). Sixty-one (28.8 …