1 Dept of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2B7
To the Editor.
A recent annotation by "Student" (Pediatrics 1989;83:180) is a quote from a letter from Johnson and MacFarlane in The Lancet of July 16, 1988, stating that, in geographically defined populations, a reduction in the level of morbidity among low birth weight survivors has not yet been demonstrated. We believe that there are, however, some encouraging signs.
There is a report from the Federal Republic of Germany1 describing a reduction in the frequency of neurologic sequelae in a very low birth weight population, born between 1977 and 1983, from a neonatal intensive care unit.