Objective: Although it is thought that late preterm babies are physiologically and metabolically as mature as term babies, their morbidity and mortality rates are higher than term babies. In this study, early neonatal problems of late preterm infants born in our hospital or referred from another center to our unit were examined.

Material and Method: Gestational age, birth weight, type of delivery, causes and duration of hospitalization of late preterm infants who admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) between 1 May 2015 and 1 April 2018 were retrospectively investigated from their medical records.

Results: Of the 1411 patients hospitalized in the NICU during the study period, 257 (18.2%) were included in the study. Of these babies, 243 (94.5%) were born in our hospital. The mean gestational age was 35 ± 0.8 weeks and birth weight was 2424 ± 448 g. According to the frequency order, the diagnoses for hospitalization was respiratory distress (n =126, 49%), hyperbilirubinemia (n =54, 21%), intrauterine growth retardation (n =52, 20.2%) and nutritional intolerance (n =30, 11.6%). The mean length of hospital stay was 8.5 ± 5.2 days and the rate of re-admission to hospital was 7%. None of the patients included in the study died.

Conclusion: Morbidities requiring NICU admission are common in late preterm infants, and they are frequently admitted to the hospital. Therefore, they should be closely followed-up.