(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Premature births in Scotland are nearly 10 times
more common than they were 25 years ago, but survival rates of babies born early
have improved dramatically, a study shows
The risk of neonatal death from premature birth more than halved during a
25-year period, and there has been an associated 10 per cent reduction in
stillbirth associated with pre-term births. Researchers at the University of
Edinburgh analyzed data relating to nearly 90,000 births in Scotland between
1980 and 2005. Researchers hope that better understanding of the trends and
causes behind premature births will help to develop better treatments for
expectant mothers.
The number of babies born prematurely increased from 54 per 1,000 births between
1980 and 1985 to 63 per 1,000 births between 2000 and 2005. Improvements in the
survival rates of premature babies were greater when births were medically
induced or babies were born by pre-planned Caesarean section, compared with
pre-term births in which labor occurred naturally.
The findings support the shift towards more medically induced early births, with
these preterm deliveries up more than 40 per cent compared with a 10 percent
increase in early births from natural onset of labor.
The research also found the growing number of expectant mothers with diabetes
had resulted in an increase in the numbers of babies born prematurely.
Researchers found a seven-fold increase in premature births where the mothers
were diabetic before becoming pregnant. Premature births linked to gestational
diabetes, where expectant mothers develop diabetes during pregnancy, also
increased four-fold over the study period.
High blood pressure in expectant mothers, however, remained the major factor
linked to pre-term births – although the proportion of babies born prematurely
as a result of this condition decreased over the 25-year study period.
A rise in the average age of women becoming pregnant was not found to have
affected the incidence of premature births.
Professor Jane Norman, Director of the Tommy’s Centre for Maternal and Fetal
Health Research at the University of Edinburgh, was quoted as saying, “The
increase in survival rates for babies born prematurely backs up decisions by
doctors to medically induce births to prevent potential complications. The
increase in diabetes as a factor in premature births is also interesting and may
be because there are more women with pre-existing diabetes – which is linked to
obesity – as well as better diagnosis of expectant mothers with gestational
diabetes.”
SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, September 21, 2009
