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Rate of Premature Births Dramatically Increases

  • 05-10-09

By Nicole Ballinger

According to CBC News (Canada) yesterday, a reported 13 million babies are born prematurely each year worldwide, and one million of them die.

 

 

The March of Dimes Foundation aims to improve the health of babies, and presented facts about premature births and the consequences, based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

 

More than 10 per cent of births in North America -- or 500,000 babies -- are preterm: that’s up 36 per cent since the mid 1980s. Africa had the most preterm births, at 12 per cent.

 

 

The causes are very different geographically, according to Christopher Howson, vice-president for global programs at the March of Dimes in Washington.

 

 

Poor conditions and lack of health care are to blame in Africa. In North America, the benefits of medical advances and improved health have been offset by the rising number of women over age 35 having babies, and the increasing use of assisted reproductive technologies that result in multiple embryos being implanted.

 

 

Women carrying twins or more, have a six times greater risk of having a preterm baby than a woman who's carrying a single baby, reports Howson.

 

 

If they do survive, preterm babies are more likely to have problems such as:

  • Developmental or behavioural issues

  • Learning disabilities

  • Cerebral palsy, and

  • Respiratory illness

The largest proportion of the increasing preterm birth rate in North America is a result of late preterm births — babies born after 34 weeks of pregnancy.

 

 

Until recently, it was thought the late preterm babies weren't a cause for a concern, but that has changed.

 

 

The statistics show that late preterm babies face higher rates of re-hospitalization, jaundice and delayed brain development, Howson said. "So there’s a risk with being born even just a week or two weeks too soon."

 

 

The 13-page report from March of Dimes aims to raise awareness of the dangers of preterm birth. It calls for more international co-operation, public health measures to improve the health of babies and mothers, and more funding to make those things happen.

 

 

The group plans to follow up with another report in 2010, suggesting more specific strategies to reduce the deaths and disabilities associated with preterm births.

 

 

 


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