UP TO ONE-QUARTER OF PRETERM BIRTHS MIGHT BE PREVENTED IF WOMEN PAID ATTENTION TO THREE RISK FACTORS THAT ARE UNDER THEIR CONTROL, NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS.
Those factors include spacing pregnancies well, beginning at a healthy weight and gaining the recommended amount during the pregnancy, the researchers found.
“These are all risk factors for a really serious health outcome — preterm birth,” said study co-author Dr. Emily DeFranco. She is a researcher at the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Babies born before 37 weeks’ gestation are considered preterm. Being born early puts babies at risk for breathing, heart, gastrointestinal and developmental problems, among other issues.
In the United States, the overall rate of preterm birth is 11.4 percent — more than twice as high as that in several other developed countries, the researchers said.
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source: BlackDoctor.org
