Neurologic and metabolic issues in moderately preterm, late preterm, and early term infants.

Common neurologic morbidities encountered in very preterm and extremely preterm infants (intracranial hemorrhage, white matter injury and periventricular leukomalacia, and apnea of prematurity) are much less common in moderately preterm and late preterm infants. The frequency of germinal matrix hemorrhage-intraventricular hemorrhage and white matter injury are reported to be low, but selection bias in neuroimaging surveillance prevents ascertainment of precise frequencies. The major neurologic morbidity of moderately and late preterm infants is feeding difficulty reflecting developmental integration of suck, swallow, and breathing.