A CANBERRA doctor has helped lift the lid on survival rates for premature babies, with a recent study finding girls do better than boys.
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The paper, co-authored by Canberra researcher Alison Kent, of the Canberra Hospital and the Australian National University Medical School, set out to discover if being born male affects survival and long-term function in premature babies.
The Australian research team discovered that cases of death and ongoing neurological problems were more common in preterm male infants.
About 23per cent of boys died in hospital, compared with a 19per cent death rate among girls. About 37per cent of boys presented a functional disability by the time they were three years old, while girls only presented in 23.5per cent of cases.
Boys (19.8per cent) were more likely to have learning disabilities, blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy, compared with only 12.2per cent of girls.
The findings, published in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics last month, were based on data from 2549 infants admitted to NSW and ACT neonatal intensive care units between 1998 and 2004.
Almost 55per cent of infants in the study were male.
While survival rates in very low birth weight premature babies have improved dramatically in recent years, Dr Kent said boys continue to underperform compared to girls.
''For reasons that are unclear to us, extremely premature boys don't seem to do as well as extremely premature girls in that they have a higher mortality rate and a higher long-term developmental outcomes,'' she said.
Dr Kent said the findings would lead to further studies.
''The thing now is to say 'What can we do to determine the difference to boys and girls? Is there anything else we can do? Are there any changes we can make as far as that's concerned?''
''And if it's out of our control, letting parents know that while there are many things we can do for premature babies there are still many risks associated with having an extremely preterm baby and that those risks might be slightly higher if it's a boy baby rather than a girl,'' Dr Kent said.