Approximately 10,000 children are born extremely premature each year in France. Improvements in the survival rates of these children have made it necessary to assess their long-term outcomes. The Epipage study, a cohort study including all children born extremely premature in nine French regions in 1997, was established to assess the neurodevelopmental outcomes of these children at ages 5 and 8, comparing them to those of a sample of children born at term. At age 5, a medical examination and psychological tests were conducted at centers established for the study. At this age, 9% of the children had cerebral palsy, 32% had a cognitive score (equivalent to IQ) <85, 12% had a score <70, 1% had severe visual impairment (visual acuity <3/10 in both eyes), and 0.5% had hearing impairment. Children without neurosensory impairments had more subtle neurological and/or behavioral disorders than full-term children. A questionnaire was sent to the families of 8-year-old children to assess their school performance. The majority of extremely preterm infants (95%) were enrolled in regular classrooms. They received educational support more often than full-term children. These results highlight the need for follow-up of this population and for evaluation of interventions provided during early childhood. (R.A.)