So what is the epicure study?
Just to remind you, the EPICure study identified all babies across the UK and Ireland who were born between 20 and 25 weeks of pregnancy. We needed to do this study because the numbers of babies being born in any one hospital was very small and we needed to know what the outlook was like across a much bigger population so we could use reliable information to help doctors and parents facing births at such times. We knew that most of these very premature babies will die soon after birth because their body systems are not mature enough to survive. In the event we identified 1185 babies born alive across the two countries between March and December 1995, of whom 843 survived and were admitted for neonatal intensive care. Sadly many of these babies also didn’t survive and when we came to assess everyone at 30 months of age 308 children were available. Some were abroad and our funds didn’t stretch to trips to these exotic locations (sadly!), so we managed to invite 302 for an assessment, of which 283 took up our invitation. Once again Thank You. This makes it the largest study of its type in the world and, because it is still hot off the press, it gives us the most up to date information on this important group of babies. Read More>