Late preterm and its morbidities

Abstract

Infants born at 34 0/7 to 36 6/7 weeks’ gestation have been defined as ‘late preterm’. Late preterm infants are physiologically and metabolically immature, leading to significantly high risk of developing short-term and long-term complications. Morbidities including respiratory distress, hyperbilirubinaemia, feeding difficulties and metabolic complications and re-admission rates are more common as compared to term infants. Therefore, anticipation and early identification of morbidities is essential to manage these infants. Immediate short-term complications as also long-term poor neurodevelopmental outcomes are significantly high due to less brain volume and poor myelination. To avoid all these complications, every effort should be made to prevent iatrogenic prematurity.

Keywords

• late preterm
• prematurity
• respiratory distress