About 1 in 10 babies are born preterm, or before completing the normal 37 to 40 weeks of pregnancy. These babies miss out on the important growth and development that happens in the final weeks. Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant mortality. Babies who survive can have short- and long-term health problems.
November is National Prematurity Awareness Month, an opportunity to reflect on the nearly 400,000 babies born preterm each year in the United States and what we can do to prevent it.
CDC has identified five key strategies proven to reduce preterm births:
- Prevent unintended pregnancies and achieve an ideal length of time between pregnancies (birth spacing);- Provide women ages 18–44 years access to health care before and between pregnancies to help manage chronic conditions and modify other risk behaviors, such as smoking;- Identify women at risk for giving birth too early and offer effective treatments to prevent preterm birth;- Discourage deliveries before 39 weeks without a medical need; and- When in vitro fertilization is used, elect to transfer just one embryo, as appropriate, to reduce multiple births.
Original source can be found here.
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