The incidence of respiratory disorders in Italian neonates was studied prospectively from 1st February to 30th April 1995. All the newborns in 45 maternity wards, which were representative of all the various national regions, were investigated for RDS, transient tachypnea, meconium aspiration syndrome, persistent fetal circulation, pulmonary infection, and other miscellaneous disorders. The total number of the studied infants was 17,290. The incidence of respiratory disorders in neonates was 2.94%, in LBW (< 2500 gm) was 15.76%, in VLBW (< 1500 gm) 47.75%, and in ELBW (< 1000 gm) 48.75%. A striking difference in the survival of LBW infants was found between the northern, the central and the southern part of Italy (mortality rates for respiratory disorders were 0.79%, 0.57%, 1.3% respectively). The overall mortality due to the aforementioned disorders was 0.43%. The percentage of infants under 34 weeks of gestational age who received antenatal corticosteroid treatment was 40.9%, whereas 5.4% received antenatal ambroxol. The incidence of RDS in the former group was 36.6%, in the latter group was 23.1% and 33.7% in infants who did not receive any antenatal treatment.