Cerebral Palsy in Children of Very Low Birth Weight.

It has been known since Little's time that a high proportion of children with cerebral palsy are premature and that many are very small at birth. A study of the relation between the group of disorders included under the term cerebral palsy and very low birth weight was undertaken in the hope that it might contribute useful aetiological information. This report describes the results of a survey, made in collaboration with the Society of Medical Officers of Health, of 1,081 surviving children weighing not more than 4 lb. (1,800 g.) at birth. Taking into account the frequency of so low a birth weight, and the high mortality that it carries (Gibson and McKeown, 1951), it is estimated that this number of survivors was probably derived from about 230,000 live births.