Iron deficiency anemia is a common problem in newborn infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends iron prophylaxis at 4 months of age for term infants. There is no specific recommendation for iron prophylaxis in late-preterm infants. We aimed to establish the optimum time for iron prophylaxis in late-preterm infants. Thirty-eight late-preterm (Group 1) and 38 term (Group 2) infants b...

Preterm birth interrupts physiological foetal development, leading to various degrees of immaturity according to the gestational age at which the infant is born [1]. Since 2005, the imprecise definition of “near-term” infants has been replaced with “late-preterm”, which includes infants born between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation [2]. Late-preterm infants are at higher risk than term infants of d...

BACKGROUND Preterm birth is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality among infants worldwide, and imposes considerable burden on health, education and social services, as well as on families and caregivers. Morbidity and mortality resulting from preterm birth is highest among early (< 28 weeks gestational age) and moderate (28-32 weeks) preterm infants, relative to late preterm infants (...

One of the goals of Healthy People 2010 (set in 1998) was to reduce preterm birthrates from 11.6% to 7.6%. However, in 2004, the preterm birthrate of 12.5% was actually higher than the rate in 1998. Approximately 65% of this increase in prematurity rate is attributed to the increasing birthrate of the late preterm infant. Care of the late preterm infant is far more complicated than many hospita...

BACKGROUND Preterm birth is increasing worldwide, and late preterm births, which comprise more than 70% of all preterm births, account for much of the increase. Early and late onset sepsis results in significant mortality in extremely preterm infants, but little is known about sepsis outcomes in late preterm infants. METHODS This is an observational cohort study of infants <121 days of age (1...

Procalcitonin (PCT) levels are elevated early after birth in newborn infants; however, the physiological features and reference of serum PCT concentrations have not been fully studied in preterm infants. The aims of the current study were to establish an age-specific percentile-based reference curve of serum PCT concentrations in preterm infants and determine the features. The PCT concentration...

OBJECTIVE To explore birth rate, delivery mode, medical problems, requirement of respiratory support, and acute outcomes of late preterm infants in Zhejiang province in eastern China. METHODS Eleven tertiary hospitals were recruited. Clinical data of every nursery admission from January to December 2007 were collected and analyzed. RESULTS During the study period, 44,362 infants were born w...

Adults who were born preterm with a very low birth weight have higher blood pressure and impaired glucose regulation later in life compared with those born at term. We investigated cardiometabolic risk factors in young adults who were born at any degree of prematurity in the Preterm Birth and Early Life Programming of Adult Health and Disease (ESTER) Study, a population-based cohort study of in...

BACKGROUND High concentrations of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, and apolipoprotein B in newborns with low gestational age may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases in the future. We investigated the lipid profile in term, late preterm and preterm Iranian infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total number of 99 term (gestational age ≥37 weeks), preterm (gestational age <34 weeks), and late...

Late preterm gestation is an important risk factor for the development of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus. An exaggerated hepatic immaturity contributes to the greater prevalence, severity, and duration of neonatal jaundice in late preterm infants. Breast milk feeding is almost uniformly present and large for gestational age status, male sex, and G6PD deficiency are over-repr...