Preterm infant: immediate and longitudinal care

Overview & Definition

Picture the 29-week infant born after spontaneous preterm labour — tiny, fragile, grunting in the delivery suite, skin translucent and heat pouring out of every centimetre of surface area. Your first minutes set the trajectory for a months-long NICU journey and a lifetime of neurodevelopmental risk. That is why preterm care is taught as a whole-of-journey discipline, not a single intervention. [1] [3]

Preterm birth is defined by gestational age at delivery. An infant born before 37 completed weeks is preterm; the lower the gestational age, the higher the risk across every organ system. The 26-week infant is a different patient from the 34-week infant — different respiratory vulnerability, different brain risk, different feeding immaturity, different prognosis — and your plan must reflect that gradation rather than treating all preterm infants as one homogeneous group. [1] [6]

Globally, roughly one in ten live births is preterm, and prematurity remains the leading cause of death in children under five. The burden falls hardest in low- and middle-income settings, but no region is spared — which is why a fellowship answer must be region-aware and equity-literate, not a single textbook pathway. [1] [2] [3]

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