Late preterm infant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Late preterm infants are infants born at a gestational age between 34+0⁄7 weeks and 36+6⁄7 weeks.[1] They have higher morbidity and mortality rates than term infants (gestational age ≥37 weeks) due to their relative physiologic and metabolic immaturity, even though they are often the size and weight of some term infants.[2][3] "Late preterm" has replaced "near term" to describe this group of infants, since near term incorrectly implies that these infants are "almost term" and only require routine neonatal care.[2]
In 2005, late-preterm births accounted for more than 70% of all preterm births (<37 weeks’ gestation), or approximately 377,000 infants. In fact, much of the increase in the preterm birth rate in recent years can be attributed to increases in late-preterm births.[1]