risk factors of premature infants in the rural areas of azadshahr city: a case-control study

background: preterm birth is one of the most remarkable reasons for neonatal and infant mortality and morbidity across the world. this study aimed to determine risk factors of premature infants in the rural area of azadshahr city, iran. materials and methods: acase-control study was conducted on all premature and low birth neonates (less than 37 weeks and weight less than 2500 grams). data were collected by records in 30 health houses located in the rural areas of azadshahr city durring 2013 to 2016. two groups (case and control) were matched by gender and health houses. a trained midwife was collected data by using of a researcher-made checklist. to describe mean and standard deviation of the demo­graphic characteristics, descriptive methods were used.to analyze, inferential statistic tests such as chi- square, and independent t-test were implemented through spss (version,16). significant level was also taken <0.05. results: in total, 112 girl infant and 101 boy infant were explored. the mean age of mother in the case and control groups was 26.14+ 8.4 and 25.67+ 9.1 years old respectively.there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of prenatal care and pregnancy complications. in addition, a remarkable relations was found between polytocous and delivery time (p<0.05). conclusion: providing mothers with necessary information in terms of interval between births, and the importance of prenatal cares in the pregnancy period to prevent complication seems to be likely useful.