Caregivers attitudes for very premature infants: what if they knew?

Background: Decisions about resuscitation of extremely premature babies are controversial. Such decisions may reflect poor understanding of outcomes. Objective: To compare caregivers' attitudes towards the resuscitation of a premature infant if they are only told the infant's gestational age or if they are only given prognostic information for infants at that gestational age. Design/methods: Residents and nurses involved in perinatal care were asked whether they would resuscitate a depressed AGA 24-week gestation infant at birth. In another question they were asked whether they would resuscitate a depressed preterm infant with a 50% chance of survival, knowing that of those who survived, 50% would have a development 'within normal limits', 20-25% a serious handicap and 40% with behavioural and/or learning disability. Results: Two hundred and seventy-nine caregivers responded (91% response rate). In the scenario that only presented gestational age, 21% of respondents would resuscitate. In the scenario that only presented prognostic statistics, 51% of respondents would resuscitate (p < 0.05).