Babies with an extremely low birth weight (<1000 g) have a higher risk of developing chronic health conditions, a new study shows. And as well as a having a higher risk of illnesses such as asthma, these babies are more likely than babies of normal birth weight to have functional and educational limitations, the follow-up study shows (JAMA 2005;294: 318-25).

The US study looked at health outcomes at the age of eight years in a group of children who had an extremely low birth weight. The children were 219 survivors of the cohort of 344 extremely low birthweight children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at one hospital, Rainbow Babies and Children's …