Most babies admitted to the NICU are premature (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy), have low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds), or have a medical condition that requires special care.
Independent variable. An independent variable is used in statistics to predict or explain a dependent variable. For example, Age and Gender might be used as independent variables to predict the age of death or life expectancy (dependent variables). In experimental designs, the independent variables are manipulated by the researcher (e.g., different dosages of a drug).
dependent variable, (in research) a factor that is measured to learn the effect of one or more independent variables. For example, in a study of the effect of preoperative nursing intervention on postoperative vomiting, vomiting is the dependent variable measured to determine the effect of the nursing intervention.