In clinical practice, the guidelines used for premature neonates are mainly based on gestational age. In the literature the use of the gestational-age guidelines is heavily debated and regarded as an oversimplification of a complex situation. Three systematic reviews showing the results of long-term outcome of premature neonates are used in this article to illustrate that gestational age alone does not adequately predict outcome. For this reason, we propose to focus more on individual risk factors than on gestational age alone, as we believe personalized medicine is the only way to improve morbidity.