Preemies are Surviving More, But Still Need Lots of Help!

Overview

Paper Summary › Explain Like I'm Five › Conflicts of Interest › Identified Limitations › Rating Explanation › Good to know › Topic Hierarchy › File Information ›

Paper Summary

Paperzilla title

Survival rates for extremely preterm infants (22-28 weeks) in the US improved significantly between 2013-2018 compared to 2008-2012. However, many babies born before 27 weeks experience significant health challenges requiring re-hospitalization and often have moderate to severe neurodevelopmental impairment at age 2.

Explain Like I'm Five

Scientists learned that more super tiny babies born too early are surviving now. But, many of the littlest ones still need lots of hospital visits and can have trouble with their brains as they get older.

Possible Conflicts of Interest

This research was funded by the NIH and several authors reported receiving grants from the NIH or other organizations. Other reported conflicts include serving on scientific advisory boards for pharmaceutical companies. However, these do not appear to significantly detract from the study.

Identified Limitations

Limited generalizability of single study

The study is limited by its hospital-based design and may not accurately represent preterm birth outcomes of the entire US population. The authors acknowledge the limited timeframe for evaluation and indicate that individual prediction is limited and further assessment through childhood and adolescence is needed.

Limited generalizability to non-academic centers

While comprehensive for included facilities, data only comes from 19 academic medical facilities, thus many important perspectives from non-academic centers are not included. While the authors do not name facilities, there is no mention of efforts to ensure diversity among centers.

Incomplete data on socioeconomic status

The authors did not collect information on socioeconomic status or level of parental education except for those included in follow-up, which was self-reported by mothers via an in-person interview. These factors greatly influence access to care and quality of care.

Rating Explanation

This is a well-designed prospective study including a large registry of patients and thorough statistical analyses. The authors also honestly describe its limitations, which mostly stem from inherent challenges in the subject matter rather than methodological flaws.

Good to know

This is the Starter analysis. Paperzilla Pro fact-checks every citation, researches author backgrounds and funding sources, and uses advanced AI reasoning for more thorough insights.

Explore Pro →

Topic Hierarchy

Domain: Health Sciences

Field: Medicine

Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

File Information

Original Title: Mortality, In-Hospital Morbidity, Care Practices, and 2-Year Outcomes for Extremely Preterm Infants in the US, 2013-2018

Uploaded: July 14, 2025 at 10:34 AM

Privacy: Public