Researchers from the Universities of Leicester, Liverpool, Oxford, Warwick and the National Perinatal Epidemology Unit analysed data of more than 18,000 British babies born between September 2000 and August 2001.
They looked at the health outcomes of children, including their height, weight and BMI, which were assessed at nine months, three years and five years old. At the same time, parents were asked about the number of hospital visits, long-standing illness, disability, wheezing, use of prescribed medication and the overall rating of their child’s health.
The findings revealed that moderate/late preterm (32-36 weeks) and early term (37-38 weeks) babies were re-admitted to hospital more times in the first few months than full-term babies (39-41 weeks).
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