TABLE 1.
Major Advances in Late Preterm Birth, 2006–2016
| Year | Milestones |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Introduction of the phrase late preterm to replace near-term, recommended in an executive summary of a 2005 NICHD workshop. 1 |
| 2007 | Practice guidelines are issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Fetus and Newborn, and the Committee on Obstetric Practice of the ACOG. |
| 2007 | NCHS begins tracking late preterm birth statistics; the March of Dimes Foundation begins research support and educational activities to prevent non–medically indicated deliveries at late preterm gestations. |
| 2011 | Guidelines to manage “indicated late preterm and early term deliveries” published after an NICHD and SMFM workshop. 6 |
| 2012 | Additional classifications published defining and refining the definition of term birth at a working group convened by NICHD, in collaboration with ACOG, the American Academy of Pediatrics, SMFM, the March of Dimes Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the NCHS. The subgroups were “early term” as births between 37 wk 0 d and 38 wk 6 d, “full term” as those at 39 wk 0 d through 40 wk 6 d, “late term” as deliveries at 41 wk 0 d through 41 wk 6 d, and, by implication, “post term” as those at 42 wk and 0 d and beyond. 7 |
| 2014 | NCHS continues to note decreases in US singleton preterm and late preterm birth rates beginning in 2007. 8 |
| 2016 | From 2007 through October 2016, >500 publications and review articles confirm that late preterm infants are at higher risk for pulmonary, metabolic, and neurologic disorders; feeding difficulties during the neonatal period; elevated risk for hospital readmissions for jaundice and bilirubin-induced brain injury; respiratory syncytial virus and other pulmonary infections during infancy childhood; cognitive deficits and learning issues at school age; and small but measurable negative effects in adult age groups. |
| 2016 | Decreasing rates of inductions at late preterm and early term pregnancies in 6 high-income countries in North America and Europe. 9 |
| 2016 | Attempts to improve fetal pulmonary maturity in late preterm early term gestations for elective cesarean birth and in other clinical settings (reviewed in Kamath-Rayne et al 10 ). Publication of a large trial to increase fetal lung maturation with antenatal betamethasone therapy 11 in late preterm pregnancy and endorsement of this practice by the SMFM 12 and ACOG. 13 |