The frequency of premature births has no decreasing tendency and varies from 4 to 14%. The rate of prematurity in TASSR varies from 5.7 to 6%, but in Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk it exceeds the average republican rate.The importance of this problem lies in the fact that prematurity affects child mortality rates. Thus, the risk of death of a premature baby is 34-37 times higher than that of a full-term baby. Premature babies account for about 70% of newborns who died before 7 days of life, and about half of them are "low birth weight babies", that is, those whose body weight is equal or less than 1500 grams. In this group, the mortality rate reaches 40% and more.

In recent years, there have been reports in the literature of a positive effect of vitamin E on the adaptation of premature infants. They often have insufficiency of this vitamin due to its limited intake to the fetus through the placenta.