Gestational age at birth and health outcomes: obstetric decisions matter

Coathup and colleagues’ important study shows that hospital admission rates during childhood are strongly associated with gestational age at birth.1 Excess hospital admissions in preterm and early term infants were largely due to increased susceptibility to infections, particularly respiratory infections. An increased risk of admission to hospital remained throughout childhood even among children born at 38 or 39 weeks’ gestation (37% of births in the cohort). …