It’s worthwhile to treat extremely premature babies, a new study suggests.
Physicians vary in how frequently they try to save the lives of babies born before 22, 23 or 24 weeks, when the babies’ chances of survival — especially without severe impairment — are very low.
But if preemie babies are actively treated instead of just made comfortable, they’re more likely to survive, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers studied nearly 5,000 babies born without existing health problems before 27 weeks of gestation. Of the babies born the earliest — at 22 weeks — 5 percent survived if they weren’t given interventions to help them breathe or keep their hearts beating. But with active treatment, 23 percent of the babies lived.
The decision of whether or not to actively treat a premature baby made less of a difference if the baby was born a month later, at 26 weeks. At that point, 80 percent of the babies survived with or without active care.
The study didn’t look at why a doctor decided to give one baby active care and not another. Those decisions are made based on a variety of reasons, including the health of the pregnancy and the parents’ values.
But it did indicate that treating premature babies is more effective than some may have thought. Of the babies studied, 22 percent of those born at 22 weeks were treated, compared with 72 percent of babies born at 23 weeks.
