The Rhode Island Cohort of Adults Born Prematurely — or "RHODE" Study — is a longitudinal study following a group of 215 infants born between 1985-1989 in Rhode Island. The study was previously known as the Infant Development Study. Prior waves of data collection occurred at birth, 1 month, 18 months, 30 months, 4 years, 8 years, 12 years, 17 years, and 23 years of age. The 215 originally enrolled infants represent a wide range of gestational ages, birth weights, and illness severity, and includes both preterm and full-term participants.

In response to an Institute of Medicine recommendation for long-term outcome studies for premature infants into young adulthood, we are currently conducting the tenth wave of the study, with participants aged 30-35 years old.

We are fortunate to have retained 96% of the participant sample between ages 17 and 23 years, and 85% since birth. To our knowledge, this is the only U.S. based study to follow preterm and full-term participants from birth into age 30.