Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition Editorials

Parent reports as developmental outcome measures in neonatal trials: the way forward?

Johnson, S., Marlow, N. — 2026-04-17T00:45:42-07:00

There is no question that the assessment of long-term outcomes is a core component of neonatal care and research. The effects of medicinal products or other interventions administered to newborns may be detected well beyond the neonatal period, even where childhood impacts may not be anticipated as a direct consequence of the intervention. Neurodevelopmental assessments are increasingly used in the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of neonatal interventions. Developmental outcomes are also of paramount importance to parents, carers and graduates of neonatal care, reflected in their prominence in core outcome sets and priority setting partnerships in neonatology.

The question remains of how best to evaluate these outcomes. Two years is widely accepted as the earliest age at which neurodevelopment can be reliably assessed. Examiner-administered tests, such as the Bayley Scales, are often considered the gold standard for such purposes, although the resources required to administer them can be...

Suboptimal BMI at 5 years after very preterm birth: too early to conclude?

Wiechers, C. — 2026-04-17T00:45:42-07:00

According to the WHO, very preterm (VPT) birth, defined as birth before 32 weeks’ gestation, affects around 1.6 million infants annually, corresponding to approximately 1.2% of all newborns worldwide. Despite major advances in neonatal care, VPT birth remains a risk factor for postnatal growth restriction (PGR), a condition increasingly recognised as a critical early determinant of long-term health.

In this context, the study by Behboodi et al provides important data on body mass index (BMI) outcomes in children born VPT between 2011 and 2012 across multiple European cohorts.1 The authors’ key finding was that, at 5 years of age, 38% of VPT children had a suboptimal BMI: 27.6% were underweight, while 10.8% were overweight or obese. These figures illustrate that a significant proportion of VPT children experience substantial growth issues during early childhood.

While 5 years may seem a convenient age for follow-up, coinciding with school entry in...