Preterm Birth : A Concerning Global (original) (raw)

Preterm Birth, Prevention, Prediction, Care

European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences

Preterm delivery is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as occurring before 37 weeks of pregnancy or in less than 259 days following the start of a woman's last menstrual cycle The mortality rate for children under the age of five is extremely concerning. Prematurity is the leading cause of death before the age of five around the world, and even when exceptional medical care is provided, children who survive still face long-term physical, developmental, neurological, and cognitive problems. According to the World Health Organization, 15 million babies are born prematurely each year, at least three weeks before their due dates. The top obstetricians, neonatologists, geneticists, microbiologists, immunologists, epidemiologists, health policy specialists, and bioengineers at Stanford are still conducting research to learn the main reason or causes of preterm delivery as well as the science of preterm birth This article reviewed how preterm birth occurs and the risk fact...

Born Preterm: A Public Health Issue

Portuguese Journal of Public Health

Background: Prematurity accounts for about 10.6% of neonates worldwide and tends to increase as does survival from lower gestational ages. Summary: The importance of preterm birth in public health stems from its link to infant and under-5 mortality, morbidity, and its economic impact. In both the short and long term, preterm birth consequences are inversely related with gestational age and carry a higher risk of mortality and morbidity with neurodevelopmental, sensorial, cognitive and physical health disturbances. Individuals needing lifelong support pose challenges to the responsiveness of health services and community systems. Public health can be decisive in prematurity prevention, providing data to policy-makers and reducing modifiable risk factors. This paper focuses on the long-term consequences of preterm birth and possible public health measures to tackle them. Key Messages: Addressing social determinants of health can have the highest impact on prematurity outcomes.

Challenges and Consequences of Preterm Birth

European Researcher

Preterm births have been a challenge to obstetricians and paediatricians. Preterm births affect all population irrespective of age, race and economic status due to lack of seriousness and awareness among the pregnant women. Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of infant morbidity and mortality, amounting to billions of dollars each year, thus increasing the cost for health care. Proper awareness programs about preterm birth may help the women population to know and understand better the signs and symptoms of preterm labour. Preterm birth is a complex cluster of problems with a set of overlapping factors of influence. Its causes may include individual-level behavioral and psychosocial factors, neighborhood characteristics, environmental exposures, medical conditions, infertility treatments, biological factors and genetics. Many of these factors occur in combination, particularly in those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or who are members of racial and ethnic minority gr...

Born Too Soon: Care for the preterm baby

2013

Preterm baby survival and care round the world Each year 15 million babies are born preterm and their survival chances vary dramatically around the world [1]. For the 1.2 million babies born in high income countries, increasing complexity of neonatal intensive care over the last quarter of the 20th century has changed the chances of survival at lower gestational ages. Middle-income and emerging economies have around 3.8 million preterm babies each year, and whilst some countries such as Turkey and Sri Lanka have halved deaths for preterm babies within a decade, other countries have made minimal progress [2]. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa account for almost two-thirds of the world's preterm babies and over three-quarters of the world's newborn deaths due to preterm birth complications [1]. Worldwide, almost half of preterm babies are born at home, and even for those born in facilities, essential newborn care is often lacking.