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Objective. Increasing survival of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight Methods. Of all live-born ELBW infants (n = 351) who were delivered in the 2-year period 1996-1997 in Finland, 206 (59%) survived until the age of 5 years. Of these, 103 were born at Results. The rate of cognitive impairment in the ELBW survivors was 9%. The rate of cerebral palsy was 14% (19% of ELBW infants who were born at Being small for gestational age at birth was associated with suboptimal growth at least until age 5. Conclusions. Only one fourth of the ELBW infants were classified as normally developed at age 5. The high rate of cognitive dysfunction suggests an increased risk for learning difficulties that needs to be evaluated at a later age. Extended follow-up should be the rule in outcome studies of ELBW infant cohorts to elucidate the impact of immaturity on school achievement and social behavior later in life. extremely preterm infants, neurocognitive function, developmental follow-up, neurologic outcome, long-term outcome. ABBREVIATIONS. ELBW, extremely low birth weight; CP, cerebral palsy; GW, gestational weeks; SGA, small for gestational age; AGA, appropriate for gestational age; MND, minor neurological dysfunction; WPPSI-R, the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised; ROP, retinopathy of prematurity; NEPSY, Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio., The increasing survival of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight The aim of this prospective study was to assess the long-term outcome of a national population-based birth cohort of [...]