Premature babies' disability risk (BBC News, 20/09/04)

Forty per cent of very premature babies have significant learning disabilities, according to the unpublished Epicure study. The study is following the developmental progress of 1,200 babies born alive at less than 26 weeks gestation in Britain and Ireland in 1995, just over 300 of whom survived to go home. The latest results show that 40% of the surviving children had moderate to severe problems in cognitive development at the age of six, compared to 2% of a control group of their classmates.