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Late Preterm Infants at Risk for Short-Term and Long Term Morbidity and Mortality

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Neonatology

Abstract

Late preterm births were the first group of premature infants who responded to neonatal intensive care. Over time with the very low birth weight infants surviving and demanding many resources, near-term infants were relatively ignored and unfortunately were no longer considered to be of high risk by many health-care providers. The resurgence of interest in this group and their renaming to late preterm resulted from the recognition that they were indeed the largest subpopulation of preterm infants, and had an increased mortality when compared to term infants, a higher morbidity rate during birth hospitalization in addition to higher rates of readmission during the neonatal period and first year of life. The increased morbidity includes transient tachypnea of newborn (TTNB), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), respiratory failure, apnea, temperature instability, jaundice, hypoglycemia, feeding difficulties and a prolonged neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay (Raju et al. 2006; Engle et al. 2007; Jain 2007; Ramachandrappa and Jain 2009; Jain 2008a; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2013). Furthermore, they have an increased prevalence of cognitive and neuro-developmental problems and a greater rate of readmission to hospital in the first weeks after discharge than term births. Escobar noted that many late preterm infants are never admitted to the NICU (Escobar et al. 2005). A possible explanation is that clinicians may be making clinical judgments based on infants’ birth weight only rather than gestation and birth weight.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Emeritus Eliza Henry Barnes Chair in Neonatology Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Avroy A. Fanaroff

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  1. Avroy A. Fanaroff
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Correspondence to Avroy A. Fanaroff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Siena, Italy

    Giuseppe Buonocore

  2. Medicina della Riproduzione, Università di Siena Dipto. Pediatria, Ostetricia e, Siena, Italy

    Rodolfo Bracci

  3. Liverpool Women's Hospital Neonatal Unit, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Michael Weindling

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Fanaroff, A.A. (2017). Late Preterm Infants at Risk for Short-Term and Long Term Morbidity and Mortality. In: Buonocore, G., Bracci, R., Weindling, M. (eds) Neonatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18159-2_159-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18159-2_159-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18159-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18159-2

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