Late Preterm and Early Term: Bigger Babies Have Challenges Too

Late and moderately preterm (LMPT) births comprise between 6-7% of births and 75% of all preterm births in the UK.¹ A proportion of these infants will require admission for specialist care within a neonatal unit and will unfortunately develop long-term health problems.¹ Although preterm birth is categorised as any birth ≤ 37 weeks gestation, the infants within this group are in fact heterogenous and their outcomes depend on the degree of immaturity.

Professor Elaine Boyle talks about late preterm and early term birth and some of the challenges that are faced by these babies. She focuses on outcomes for mature preterm and early term infants and what the implications are for clinical practice with respect to these babies. In addition to the above, she explains the current knowledge base and what the future practice should be for these infants.

References

1. Boyle EM, Johnson S, Manktelow B, et al. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2015;100: F479–F485.

• Professor Elaine Boyle

  Consultant Neonatologist & Professor Neonatal Medicine

  Read biography
  Professor Elaine Boyle

  Consultant Neonatologist & Professor Neonatal Medicine University of Leicester

  Role and Location 

  Professor Elaine Boyle is a Consultant Neonatologist and a Professor at the University of Leicester.

  Education 

  Professor Boyle had a successful career in nursing for a number of years before changing direction to study medicine at the University of Sheffield in 1987 and qualifying as a doctor in 1993. In the year 2002, Professor Boyle obtained her MD studying the effects of analgesia in acute and chronic pain in preterm infants from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, before going on to completing an MSc in epidemiology and a PhD, both at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Boyle was appointed as Professor of Neonatal Medicine and Child Health at the University of Leicester in 2018.

  Research Interests

  Professor Boyle’s research interests are in late and moderate prematurity, neonatal pain and enteral feeding in preterm infants. Her other research interests include randomised controlled trials and the effects of gestational age at birth on later outcomes.

  Memberships

  Professor Boyle is member of the NeoOpioid Consortium and the UK National Principal Investigator for the EU-funded European Survey. Professor Boyle is also the Children’s Specialty Lead for the Clinical Research Network, East Midlands and previous Chair of the International Society for Evidence-Based Neonatology (EBNEO).