The study will look at premature babies as they grow older

Scientists at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre will use the cash from the Medical Research Council to drive forward a decade-long study.

The next phase will look at a group of babies born at 26 weeks or less who are now almost 10-years-old.

The results will help doctors better advise parents with a premature baby.

Increased survival

The study, led by Professor Neil Marlow, will also recruit a new group of babies born at 26 weeks or less to try to understand how the type of treatment they receive at birth might affect their long-term health.

The study has already looked at the original group of premature babies at age two-and-a-half and six-and-a-half.

Prof Marlow said: "Since our first study we're finding that the number of extremely premature babies who survive has increased dramatically.

"What we now need to find out is whether the outcome has also improved and also how being born early might affect the surviving child's health and social development in the future."

Disability levels

The researchers will use new methods to assess the underlying causes of the respiratory disorders they found in the first study.

The EPICure study began in 1995, following a group of babies born very prematurely at 25 weeks or less.

The initial survival rates were low, with just 308 surviving children recruited to the study from 1,289 live births.

When they were assessed at the age of two-and-a-half, the results showed that around half of the children had no disability.

But about 25% had severe disability, such as cerebral palsy, blindness and deafness, and 25% had lower levels of disability.

About 46% were receiving treatment for chest-related medical problems, such as coughs and asthma.