Background: This study conducted at the Clinic for Children’s Diseases
of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar, aims to highlight the
characteristics, frequency, course, most common complications and treatment
outcomes of pregnant women and their late preterm infants according to
gestational age. Methods: This study is a retrospective epidemiologic
study for the period from 1/1/2018 to 31/12/2021. The study included all the
preterm infants who were born at a gestational age from 34 to
36 weeks and their mothers. Results: In the period under study,
a total of 7178 infants were born, of which 253 (3.52%) were late preterm
infants. The results show that most mothers were between 30 and 39 years of age,
pregnant for the first time with a single pregnancy, delivered by caesarean
section, with complications in 53.1% of the pregnancies. All the analyzed
pathological conditions were more common in the pregnancies which ended at 34
weeks. Our results indicate that the late preterm babies had a good
birth weight (53.8%) and high vitality scores (93%) at birth, but these scores
were not confirmed on the first day of life. A significant number of late preterm
infants had some pathological condition which was treated in the intensive care
units (ICU) (p 0.001). Conclusions: The study concludes
that half of the pregnant women had risk factors which were the basis for the
preterm births and the development of complications in the late preterm infants.
Furthermore, despite good birth weight and vitality scores at birth, only one
fifth of the late preterm infants were not treated with medications or developed
pathological conditions, whereas only one third required no intensive care
treatment. It is, therefore, necessary to improve the monitoring and
understanding of such pregnancies, implement antenatal corticosteroid therapy,
and increase parental awareness to ensure long-term and frequent monitoring of
late preterm infants by pediatricians.