Background and aims Prematurity is a chronic condition with increased risk of long term disabilities. In middle income countries, paediatricians have to rely on data from western countries since long term follow up of former premature infants are scarce. This pilot study aims at testing the feasibility of a follow up strategy by determining the rate of developmental delay in a sample of former premature infants.

Methods This is a cross sectional study of 100 former premature children born at less than 37weeks gestation, from January 2006 to 2009 at a tertiary care centre in Lebanon. Children were evaluated at 3–7 years using Denver Developmental screening test (DDST), Peabody Developmental Motor Scale (PDMS) and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI). Analysis was done using SPSS 21 software.

Results 86 out of 100 enrolled were tested; their mean age was 4.4 years (+/- 1.5), 56% were males.

Conclusion In former preterm infants, the rate of intellectual disability was 14.7% based on WPPSI; 50% had fine motor delay and in total 37% had developmental delay. These data provide objective measures for better distribution of scarce resources in this particular setting.