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AAP News Vol. 15 No. 8 August 1999, p. 2 © 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics
Neonatologists and neonatal nurses are more likely to view severe handicaps resulting from prematurity as worse than death than are parents and adolescents, according to a Canadian study. Researchers interviewed 100 physicians, 103 nurses, 140 adolescents who were extremely small at birth, 124 teens who were born at term and weighed more than 2,500 g, and 275 parents. Participants were asked to imagine themselves living for 60 years in each of five hypothetical health states, which ranged from having a minor disability to being severely disabled. They then rated each situation, with -1 being worse than death, 0 being dead and 1 as perfect health.
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