Five papers in this issue report on outcome studies, all of which follow up children who presented with illnesses in the neonatal period. The studies by Ruggieri et al. and Watanabe et al. are principally concerned with the outcome of a specific condition. The former examines spinal-cord injury and the latter, convulsions. Both are chiefly concerned with how the seizures progress and how the specific signs relate to neurological findings. Both mention general functional outcomes – Watanabe discusses psychomotor delay, while Ruggieri concentrates on learning and behaviour disorders – but neither explains how they were measured.