Excerpt from: The Saratogian (click for full article)
Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) interventions for babies born very
small and early have drastically reduced infant deaths in the United
States, but in doing so they've contributed to more intellectual
disabilities, according to a new study.
Past research has shown such disabilities have been reduced in recent years through vaccines and newborn screening, for example.
But
disability rates may also be rising due to procedures that save the
lives of children who go on to have limitations in social and practical
skills, according to researchers led by Dr. Jeffrey Brosco.
"We
actually through medical interventions, in some sense, cause a fair
amount of intellectual disability as well (as preventing it)," said
Brosco, from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
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