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Neonatal treatment philosophy in Dutch and German NICUs: health-related quality of life in adulthood of VP/VLBW infants

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Abstract

Purpose

Although survival after very preterm birth (VP)/very low birth weight (VLBW) has improved, a significant number of VP/VLBW individuals develop physical and cognitive problems during their life course that may affect their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We compared HRQoL in VP/VLBW cohorts from two countries: The Netherlands (n = 314) versus Germany (n = 260) and examined whether different neonatal treatment and rates of disability affect HRQoL in adulthood.

Method

To analyse whether cohorts differed in adult HRQoL, linear regression analyses were performed for three HRQoL outcomes assessed with the Health Utilities Index 3 (HUI3), the London Handicap Scale (LHS), and the WHO Quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF). Stepwise hierarchical linear regression was used to test whether neonatal physical health and treatment, social environment, and intelligence (IQ) were related to VP/VLBW adults’ HRQoL and cohort differences.

Results

Dutch VP/VLBW adults reported a significantly higher HRQoL on all three general HRQoL measures than German VP/VLBW adults (HUI3: .86 vs .83, p = .036; LHS: .93 vs. .90, p = .018; WHOQOL-BREF: 82.8 vs. 78.3, p < .001). Main predictor of cohort differences in all three HRQoL measures was adult IQ (p < .001).

Conclusions

Lower HRQoL in German versus Dutch adults was related to more cognitive impairment in German adults. Due to different policies, German VP/VLBW infants received more intensive treatment that may have affected their cognitive development. Our findings stress the importance of examining effects of different neonatal treatment policies for VP/VLBW adults’ life.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all current and former group members, pediatricians, psychologists, and research nurses of the Dutch Project On Preterm and Small-for-gestational-age infants (POPS) and the Bavarian Longitudinal Study (BLS). Moreover, we would like to thank those who contributed to the study organisation, recruitment, data collection, and management of the adulthood assessments. Special thanks are due to the study participants and their families.

Funding

The Dutch POPS study was supported by grant HS-08385 from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, USA. The German BLS study was supported by grants PKE24, JUG14, 01EP9504 and 01ER0801 from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Linda D. Breeman, Nicole Baumann & Dieter Wolke

  2. Department of Youth & Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Linda D. Breeman

  3. TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Sylvia van der Pal & Gijsbert H. W. Verrips

  4. Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Peter Bartmann

  5. Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Dieter Wolke

Authors
  1. Linda D. Breeman
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  2. Sylvia van der Pal
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  3. Gijsbert H. W. Verrips
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  4. Nicole Baumann
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  5. Peter Bartmann
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  6. Dieter Wolke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dieter Wolke.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Breeman, L.D., van der Pal, S., Verrips, G.H.W. et al. Neonatal treatment philosophy in Dutch and German NICUs: health-related quality of life in adulthood of VP/VLBW infants. Qual Life Res 26, 935–943 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-016-1410-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-016-1410-7

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