Patterns of preterm admission, morbidity, and mortality in a tribal-district neonatal intensive care unit: A retrospective cohort study

Figure 1 Gestational age distribution of preterm neonates admitted to the tribal-district neonatal intensive care unit between 2022 and 2024. Illustrates the year-wise distribution of preterm neonates categorized by gestational age at admission. Late preterm infants (34-36⁺⁶ weeks) constituted the largest subgroup (835/1438; 58.1%), followed by moderate preterm (32-33⁺⁶ weeks; 324; 22.5%) and very preterm (28-31⁺⁶ weeks; 210; 14.6%) neonates. Extremely preterm infants (< 28 weeks) accounted for 69 admissions (4.8%). The distribution pattern remained stable across the three-year study period.

Figure 2 Mortality gradient by gestational age among preterm neonates. Demonstrates gestational age-specific in-hospital mortality rates among preterm neonates. Mortality showed a marked inverse relationship with advancing gestational age, decreasing from 49.3% among extremely preterm neonates (< 28 weeks) to 24.8% in very preterm (28-31⁺⁶ weeks), 10.2% in moderate preterm (32-33⁺⁶ weeks), and 4.6% in late preterm infants (34-36⁺⁶ weeks). Mortality rates were calculated excluding neonates discharged against medical advice from the denominator.