The incidence of respiratory distress syndrome
was 10.5% for infants who were born at 34 weeks
gestation and 0.3% at 38 weeks. Similarly, the incidence
of transient tachypnea of the newborn was 6.4% for
those who were born at 34 weeks and 0.4% at 38
weeks, pneumonia was 1.5% vs 0.1% and respiratory
failure was 1.6% vs 0.2% respectively(7). Some RDS
infants require mechanical ventilation depending on the
degree of prematurity, whereas 3.3% of infants born at
34 weeks need assisted ventilation(8). However
evidence showed that the rate of short-term respiratory
complications of late preterm newborns were higher
than those at term(9). Few studied examined the
differences of respiratory morbidities among late
preterm with different gestational age. However, the
data were limited due to small sample number(2,4-6).
Preterm cases accounted for at least 10% of all
deliveries at Bhumibol Adulyadej hospital. The
shortage of NICU beds and respirators are always
problematic. Decreasing the rate of infant with RDS
would lower the NICU admission and respiratory
support. To determine the complication of these late
preterm neonates in different gestation is important for
clinical decision.
Materials and Met