Spanish population-study shows that healthy late preterm infants had worse outcomes one year after discharge than term-born infants

Abstract

Aim: This study assessed the risks associated with healthy late preterm infants and healthy term-born infants using national hospital discharge records. Method: We used the minimum basic data set of the Spanish hospital discharge records database for 2012–2013 to analyse the hospitalisation of newborn infants. The outcomes were in-hospital mortality and hospital re-admissions at 30 days and one year after their first discharge. Results: Of the 95 011 newborn infants who were discharged, 2940 were healthy late preterm infants, born at 34 + 0–36 + 6 weeks, and 18 197 were healthy term-born infants. The mean and standard deviation (SD) length of hospital stay were 6.0 (4.5) days in late preterm infants versus 2.8 (1.3) days in term-born infants (p < 0.001). Re-admissions were also higher in the late preterm group at 30 days (9.0% versus 4.4%) and one year (22.0% versus 12.4) (p < 0.001). The relative risk for death at one year was 4.9 in the late preterm group, when compared to the term-born infants (p = 0.026). Conclusion: The hospital discharge codes for otherwise healthy newborn preterm infants were associated with significantly worse 30-day and one-year outcomes when their re-admission and mortality rates were compared with healthy term-born newborn infants.