…a study of babies born too soon

This study is supported by
the National Institutes of Health

 

 

 Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns (ELGANs) are infants born more than 3 months early. They are more likely to develop certain health and development problems than babies who are not born prematurely. The ELGAN study is an effort to find out why some very premature infants are more likely than others to have these problems.

In the ELGAN study, we want to observe and identify the earliest signs of problems. This may help us learn how to prevent difficulties in babies such as yours.

Only a small number of very premature infants develop each kind of health problem. This means that we must observe and follow the progress of a large number of premature babies to find each problem we want to study. For this reason, the ELGAN study needs to enroll more than 1,800 very premature infants.


Before enrolling yourself and your baby, you should know the following…

Enrolling in the study will not change anything at all about your baby's medical care, which is directed by his or her doctors.

You will be interviewed briefly about yourself and your present and past pregnancies.

Your own and your infant's medical records will be reviewed for information about medical care.

A drop of your blood will be collected at selected times, but only when blood is being collected as part of your medical care.

A drop of your baby's blood will be collected at selected times, but only when blood is being collected as part of your baby's medical care.

A piece of your placenta and your baby's umbilical cord are examined routinely as part of regular medical care and then they are discarded. We want to save them and study them.

After your baby is discharged from the hospital, you will receive occasional mailings and telephone calls from us to keep you informed about the ELGAN study.

At no cost to you, we can assess your child's development at one and two years of age after you sign another consent form.

All information is kept strictly confidential

The ELGAN Study is not engaged in rendering medical advice or providing recommendations. The information at this site and the sites linked to it is for educational purposes only and is provided as a benefit and service to families participating in the ELGAN Study.

Members of the ELGAN study staff are not able to vouch for the accuracy of all the material at other sites linked to this website. For this reason, the presence of a link should not be viewed as an endorsement of the website.

The information displayed at the linked sites is no substitute for expert medical care. Please discuss your baby's condition and any information you may obtain from these websites with your baby's physician.