Analysis of Pathology in Premature Infants in Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic at St George University Hospital, Plovdiv between 2013 and 2015

Introduction: Premature birth is now one of the most profound prenatal problems worldwide because of the high morbidity and mor-tality it is associated with at the beginning of life. Advances in prenatal medicine over the past decades have led to a significant improve-ment of neonatal survival in risk groups of newborns. Infants of gestational age of 22-25 weeks represent the greatest medical, social, and ethical dilemma in neonatology. Most of these newborns need intensive care to survive, and most infants born between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation require special care. Those born 34 to 36 weeks’ gestation also have higher rates of short-term morbid premature birth-related conditions such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) than their peers born at term.Aim: To carry out an analysis of morbidity during the neonatal period in premature babies.Materials and methods: A retrospective triennial study was conducted on 598 premature newborns.Results: The results of the study show that morbidity rate in premature born infants is high. The most frequent reasons for admission to the neonatal intensive care unit are the other forms of respiratory distress syndrome (45%). Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) was observed in 23.41% of the prematurity, 10.7% of them were suspected of having other pathology, and 20.9% of premature neonates  manifested no complications in the neonatal period. There was a significant difference in the diagnosis of newborns after birth (p=0.0001, r=0.58), with the newborns with RDS demonstrating the most complications in the neonatal period.Conclusions: The conclusions to be drawn from the analysis of the data are as follows: there is wide comorbidity in the prematurity of RDS. Lower gestational age strongly correlates with the development of RDS. If no corticosteroid therapy is administered the risk of developing hyaline membrane disease increases. There is extremely high probability of neonatal mortality in children with hyaline membrane disease. There is significant difference between the primary diagnosis and the condition of the child at discharge from the medical establishment. Adequate and specialized prenatal care is essential when trying to reduce the incidence of preterm birth