Early birth is a challenge to the child but also to the parents, health care and research. Research is necessary from several aspects such as development of diagnostic and treatment modalities in the medical, social and educational fields.
Children born too early demonstrate several problems related to their adaptation to extrauterine life. The problems relates to failing function in immature organs and the low body weight. One focus for our research is to understand mechanisms behind breathing patterns in neonatal pulmonary disease, and to optimize and develop methods for breathing support.
Another focus is to understand the physiological mechanisms behind the large losses in fluid in the premature child and to develop strategies to minimize these losses and reduce the need for intervention.
Mapping the long term development for these children is an important and complex research work including evaluation of physical and perceptual abilities and necessitates examination into adulthood.