Health care in the first year of life of a prospective cohort of late-preterm and full-term infants, 2015-2017

Abstract

Objective: To compare late preterm and full-term infants and investigate the association between late preterm birth and the use of reference services. Methods: Prospective cohort study, with data collected from the first to twelfth months of life. Maternal and birth characteristics were compared between term and premature live births. The effect of late preterm birth on the usage of outpatient/emergency services, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions were evaluated by calculating odds ratios adjusted for potential confounding factors. Results: The 41 late preterm and 540 full-term infants differed in the frequencies of low weight at birth and in non-permanence in rooming-in wards, which were both higher in late-preterm infants. This group had a higher chance of being hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (OR=6.85 – CI_95% 2.56;18.34). Late preterm birth was not associated with the use of other health services. Conclusion: Negative effects of late preterm delivery were only found in the neonatal stage.