Abstract

A prospective study of the outcome of care of a regional cohort of very low birthweight (< 1500 g) and very preterm (< 32 weeks) infants was carried out. Its aims were to assess the ability of the CRIB (clinical risk index for babies) score, rather than gestational age or birthweight, to predict mortality before hospital discharge, neurological morbidity, and length of stay, and to access CRIB score as an indicator of neonatal intensive care performance. 676 live births fulfilled the criteria and complete data were available for 643 (95%). Compared with gestation and birthweight, CRIB was better for the prediction of mortality, was as good for the prediction of morbidity, and was not as good for the prediction of length of stay. CRIB adjusted mortality did not demonstrate better performance in units providing the highest level of care. Either the CRIB score was not sensitive to performance or the level 3 hospitals in this study were performing badly. On the basis of this analysis purchasers and providers of neonatal intensive care cannot yet rely on the CRIB score as a performance indicator.