Pre-Term Babies
by Ana M. Boujja
A few months ago my daughter arrived very early. I was due on February 2, 2006, and before I had a chance to enjoy my last trimester, I was rushed to the hospital to have-- an emergency caesarean section at twenty-nine weeks gestation. Before this experience, I would have never thought of having a pre-term delivery because my other two pregnancies went full-term. During the month my daughter was in the neonatal intensive care unit, I encountered numerous women who had pre-term deliveries or births before the end of the thirty-seventh week. In fact, there has been a rise in the number of pre-term births in the United States. Many of these pre-term births happened among women who never expected to have any complications during their pregnancy. Some of these women have risk factors and/or have some complications, but never imagined having a pre-term delivery. They like me just assumed they would go full-term. My experience and the experiences of the other mothers' that I met led me to ask the general question for this research which is: What are the factors that place some women at greater risk for a pre-term delivery? In order to address this question there are a few related questions that I must consider. For example, what are some of the factors mentioned frequently in the research literature? Are physicians able to predict those who are candidates for pre-term versus full term births?
In the United States, we now have more than 476,000 infants who are born prematurely each year (Woolston, 2005a). The rate of pre-term births has increased significantly over the past twenty-five years to a point where they now are approximately one out of every eight births (Woolston, 2005a). The United States is not the only country that has experienced an increase in the rate of pre-term births. Reports from Denmark and the United Kingdom confirm that these countries have had an increase in pre-term births from 1995-2004 (BBC, 2006; Jones, 2006).
These early deliveries can come several weeks or months before their due date. These children will be the ones who will have more sicknesses and impairments. According to a report published by the British Broadcasting News as many as one in four children born with fewer than 25-week gestation have severe mental or physical disability. Even beyond 32 weeks, one in three children has educational or other developmental problems by the age of seven (BBC, 2006; Jones, 2006).
These infants are often born small in size, ranging from three pounds
or less, and are not fully developed (Woolston, 2005b). Because of low-birth
weight and other complications, pre-term infants frequently have more extended
stays in the hospital and have high medical costs. The average cost of a
premature baby's hospital stay is about $58,000, compared to $4,300 for
a typical newborn (Woolston, 2005b). The costs increase significantly when
a child is born 13 weeks early or more (State Legislature, 2006).
Pre-term children are at risk for death. In 2002, sixty-five percent of
infants who died prior to their first birthday were pre-term births (Lister,
2006; Jones 2006). In fact, "Premature birth is now the leading cause
of death and long-term disability among newborns" in the United States
(Woolston, 2005a; Lister, 2006). In the United Kingdom about seventy-five
per cent of neonatal deaths and most of the neonatal intensive care unit
cases are related to pre-term deliveries (Jones, 2006).