Pediatricians answer questions about the birth of extremely low birth weight babies

BACKGROUND: In 2011, Russia adopted new standards of medical birth criteria in accordance with the WHO recommendations of 1975. Newborns with extremely low birth weight are in the group of high risk of formation of disabling pathology, lower overall quality of life.AIM: to analyze the opinion of pediatricians in connection with the birth of extremely low birth weight babies.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study of doctors' opinion was conducted in 2023-2024 in medical organizations of Saratov city. 106 pediatricians with more than 5 years of work experience took part in the study. The cohort one-stage sociological study was implemented by the method of questionnaire survey using the author's questionnaire.RESULTS: The study discussed the problem of decision making regarding the need for resuscitation of extremely low birth weight newborns and the possibility of disconnecting extremely low birth weight newborns from life support when they develop disabling diseases.The majority (64.7%) of pediatricians disagree with the current birth criteria. 32.7% of respondents were against resuscitation measures for extremely low birth weight newborns. 62.3% of survey participants have not encountered unfounded accusations of causing death to newborns through negligence (which is related to their specific work). 46.7% of respondents believe that nursing extremely low birth weight babies leads to a sharp deterioration in the health indicators of the child population.CONCLUSION: Most pediatricians disagree with the current birth criteria. The unparalleled level of responsibility, complexity of decision making and unpredictability of consequences, as well as the experience of unfairly blaming doctors for the death of extremely low birth weight newborns have influenced the majority of doctors` opinion on the necessity of both parents’ participation in decision making about resuscitation or palliative care, as well as about life support system disconnection in case of disabling diseases in extremely low birth weight newborns.