Neonatal outcomes by gestational age, precursor of birth and presence of medical conditions among 37–40 weeks' gestation singleton live births
| Gestational age | P value* | Precursor of Birth | P value* | Medical conditions | P value* | |||||
| 37 weeks (n=2162) | 38 weeks (n=6082) | 39–40 weeks (n=10 408) | Spontaneous† (n=10 612) | Provider initiated (n=8040) | No (n=14 554) | Yes‡ (n=4098) | ||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||||
| Resuscitation in delivery room | 124 (5.7) | 281 (4.6) | 543 (5.2) | 0.191 | 536 (5.1) | 412 (5.1) | 0.881 | 660 (4.5) | 288 (7.0) | <0.001 |
| Oxygen therapy during hospital stay | 84 (3.9) | 168 (2.8) | 216 (2.1) | <0.001 | 228 (2.1) | 240 (3.0) | 0.006 | 309 (2.1) | 160 (3.9) | <0.001 |
| Neonatal ICU admission | 78 (3.6) | 149 (2.4) | 219 (2.1) | 0.024 | 216 (2.0) | 230 (2.9) | 0.006 | 291 (2.0) | 156 (3.8) | <0.001 |
| Neonatal death | 9 (0.42) | 13 (0.21) | 18 (0.17) | 0.204 | 24 (0.23) | 15 (0.19) | 0.604 | 25 (0.17) | 14 (0.34) | 0.022 |
| Transient tachypnoea of the newborn | 54 (2.5) | 99 (1.6) | 152 (1.5) | 0.031 | 144 (1.4) | 161 (2.0) | 0.004 | 193 (1.3) | 112 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| Antibiotic use during hospital stay | 51 (2.4) | 116 (1.9) | 191 (1.8) | 0.427 | 177 (1.7) | 181 (2.3) | 0.014 | 239 (1.6) | 119 (2.9) | <0.001 |
| Hypoglycaemia in the first 48 hours of life | 19 (0.9) | 49 (0.8) | 26 (0.2) | <0.001 | 47 (0.4) | 47 (0.6) | 0.248 | 54 (0.4) | 40 (1.0) | <0.001 |
| Phototherapy in the first 72 hours of life | 82 (3.8) | 149 (2.4) | 192 (1.8) | <0.001 | 204 (1.9) | 218 (2.7) | 0.003 | 279 (1.9) | 144 (3.5) | <0.001 |
| Phototherapy after hospital discharge§ | 86 (5.9) | 191 (4.6) | 235 (3.3) | <0.001 | 245 (3.5) | 267 (4.8) | 0.004 | 372 (3.8) | 140 (4.9) | 0.019 |
| Breastfeeding up to 1 hour after birth | 814 (37.7) | 2587 (42.5) | 4933 (47.4) | <0.001 | 5700 (53.7) | 2635 (32.8) | <0.001 | 6767 (46.5) | 1567 (38.2) | <0.001 |
| Exclusive breastfeeding during hospital stay | 1591 (73.6) | 4801 (78.9) | 8600 (82.6) | <0.001 | 9114 (85.9) | 5879 (73.1) | <0.001 | 1,1917 (81.9) | 3076 (75.1) | <0.001 |
*χ2 tests.
†Spontaneous onset of labour or premature rupture of membranes.
‡Women with the following conditions: hypertensive disorders (chronic hypertension, pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome); eclampsia; pre-existing and gestational diabetes; renal, cardiac or autoimmune diseases; severe infection at admission for birth; placental abruption and placental praevia and fetuses with IUGR.
§Included women/infants followed at 45–119 days after birth. n=1468 (37 weeks); 4117 (38 weeks); 7061 (39/40 weeks); 7065 (spontaneous); 5581 (provider initiated); 9776 (no maternal/fetal conditions); 2870 (with maternal/fetal conditions). Non-response adjustment sample weights were applied for the analysis of the follow-up variables as described in the methods section.
HELLP, haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count; ICU, intensive care unit; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction.