Preterm birth: seven-year retrospective study in a single centre population.

Background: Preterm birth is a health and social problem, considered the leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide. It is associated with higher rates of neurodevelopmental morbidity, sensorineural impairments and other complications. The aim of the study was to describe the incidence and the major risk factors associated with preterm birth.

Methods: We performed a single center, observational and retrospective Cohort study in the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital "G. Martino", Messina. Clinical records of all pregnant women who delivered from 1st January 2010 to 31 of December 2016 were collected.

Results: In the 7 years considered, a total of 7954 pregnant women were included in our study. The majority of all preterm births were due to infants born late preterm (71.83%), 26.45% were due to preterm and 1.72% to extremely preterm. The preterm cohort had a higher proportion of history of preterm delivery (p < 0.0001), and unmarried (p = 0.003) and underweight or obese patients (p < 0.0001). In addition, prematurity was associated with presence of uterine anomalies (p < 0.0001), vaginal/urinary infections (p = 0.02), poli/oligohydramnios (p < 0.0001), maternal diabetes (p = 0.004), hypertension (p < 0.0001), short cervical length (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: We suggest prompt identification of all risk factors associated with preterm birth to apply immediate and appropriate specific interventions.