Introduction

Every year, approximately 15 million premature children are born; related complications are the main cause of death in children under five years. The rate of premature births ranges from 5 to 18% of newborns in different countries worldwide.

Objective

To determine the incidence of premature infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the High Specialty Naval General Hospital during 2015-2017.

Material and methods

A descriptive and retrospective study in which we analyzed the information on premature births in the High Specialty Naval General Hospital during 2015-2017, admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Results

During the study period, there were 1,855 births, 383 were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, of which 37% were premature, with a higher frequency of male patients (55.9%) and late preterm (48.2%).

Conclusions

There is a high incidence of premature births, the approach must begin before birth, taking preventive measures to avoid preterm deliveries and in case it is inevitable, to adopt the necessary measures to reduce the mortality and complications of a premature child.

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