Fetal viability

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Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the availability of advanced medical care. In low-income countries, more than 90% of extremely preterm newborns (less than 28 weeks gestational age) die due to a lack of said medical care; in high-income countries, the vast majority of these newborns survive.^[1]

Medical viability is generally considered to be between 23 and 24 weeks gestational age, meaning that these newborns have a < 50% chance of either dying or surviving with severe impairment if active care is instituted; this applies to most fetuses at ≥ 24 weeks of gestation, and to some fetuses at 23 weeks of gestation with favourable risk factors.^[2][3][4]

As of 2022, the world record for the lowest gestational age newborn to survive is held by Curtis Zy-Keith Means, who was born on 5 July 2020 in the United States, at 21 weeks and 1 day gestational age, weighing 420 grams.^[5]