Table 1

Comparison between late preterm and term population†

Variable	Late preterm infants (34–36+6)		Term infants (37+)		p Value
Variable	N	Per cent	N	Per cent	p Value
Total	579	4.1	14 525	95.9
Maternal age
<20	40	8.7	546	5.2	0.027*
20–24	97	21.5	2095	18.3
25–29	155	26.9	4051	28.1
30–34	158	24.2	4691	29.0
35+	126	18.6	3092	19.5
Ethnicity
White	488	81.5	12 882	86.2	0.026*
Asian/Asian British	40	11.3	615	6.8
Black/Black British	13	4.0	362	4.1
Other	13	3.2	291	2.9
Marital status
Single	91	16.4	2046	15.1	0.526
Married/living together	482	83.6	12 334	84.9
Age mother left full time education
<16	124	24.1	2447	19.0	0.056
17–18	158	29.2	4088	29.6
>18	291	46.7	7869	51.5
NSSEC
Managerial	199	30.0	5643	35.2	<0.001***
Intermediate	103	18.3	2942	19.9
Routine + manual	159	25.2	3759	27.2
Never worked/not classified	118	26.6	2181	17.7
IMD quintile
Most deprived	172	36.4	3297	27.1	<0.001***
2	113	22.4	2930	22.4
3	101	13.6	2914	18.7
4	100	14.9	2748	16.4
Least deprived	92	12.5	2262	15.4
Parity
Primiparous	321	58.6	7050	51.3	0.002**
Multiparous who breastfed <6 weeks	142	22.1	3480	21.3
Multiparous who breastfed >6 weeks	16	19.3	3995	27.4
Type of delivery
NVD	322	61.2	8808	63.5	<0.001***
Instrumental	51	7.9	2066	13.8
Caesarean	204	31.0	3620	22.6
Neonatal unit admission
Yes	258	43.4	658	4.4	<0.001***
No	321	56.6	13 867	95.5
Length of stay in hospital
<12 h	16	3.3	1849	14.6	<0.001***
12–24 h	52	8.9	3690	26.7
1–2 days	83	14.7	3829	24.8
3–7 days	309	51.3	3918	24.6
>7 days	89	15.6	143	1.0
Not born in hospital	3	0.9	390	3.0

*p<0.05; **p<0.005; ***p<0.001.
†Per cent rounded to 1 decimal point (weighted). Frequencies (n) are unweighted values.
IMD, Index of Multiple Deprivation; NVD, normal vaginal delivery.