Short-Term Neonatal Morbidities Associated with Early Term Births

Objective: To determine short-term morbidities of infants born at early term gestation. Materials and Methods: A medical chart review was conducted to compare the data between early term at 37 to 38⁺⁶ weeks of gestation and full term neonates at 39 to 40⁺⁶ weeks of gestation born between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2021 at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand. The primary and secondary outcomes were short-term respiratory and non-respiratory morbidities of early term neonates, respectively. Results: One thousand eight hundred neonates were recruited, 900 were early term and 900 were full term neonates. Overall, early term neonates were 44.3% spontaneous births and 23.5% elective cesarean sections. Early term neonates had significantly increased risk of respiratory morbidities, including delayed transitional period (p<0.001), transient desaturation (p=0.038), transient tachypnea of the newborns (p<0.001), and requirement of oxygen supplementation (p<0.001). Early term neonates also had significantly higher non-respiratory morbidities than those of full term neonates, including hypothermia (p<0.001), hypoglycemia (p=0.003), jaundice requiring phototherapy (p=0.004), septic evaluations (p<0.001), admission to a special care nursery (p<0.001), total length of stays (p<0.001), and readmission (p=0.018). Conclusion: Early term neonates had significantly increased risk of short-term respiratory and non-respiratory morbidities. Avoidance of early term delivery should be performed to prevent morbidities related to early term births.