Neonatale sterfte bij kinderen geboren na een zeer korte zwangerschapsduur en met een zeer laag geboortegewicht; resultaten van een landelijk onderzoek

– In a cohort of 1338 children, the neonatal mortality amounted to 2331000. These represent 94 of all children born alive in the Netherlands in 1983 after a pregnancy of less than 32 weeks‘ duration and (or) with a birth weight of less than 1500 g. The obstetrician's best estimate of the duration of pregnancy was more predictive of such children's death than the birth weight. In pregnancies of this nature clinical activities and decisions should be based on careful determination of the duration of pregnancy by the obstetrician rather than on the expected birth weight.