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【社会人文】早产问题越来越严重

Premature births a growing issue

By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The number of babies born dangerously early and at risk of lifelong health problems is on the rise both nationally and in Pittsburgh, and many of the reasons remain unexplored.
One out of every eight births in the U.S. occurs at 37 weeks' gestation or sooner -- three weeks earlier than what doctors consider a full-term baby, according to 2003 figures compiled by the March of Dimes.

In Pittsburgh that rate is even higher, with one in seven -- or nearly 15 percent of all babies -- born prematurely.

Bringing greater attention to this trend -- and, in time, more research dollars -- was part of the aim of a summit on prematurity Monday at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children.

Although expectant mothers' smoking, diabetes and high-blood pressure can lead to babies being born at 37 weeks or earlier, premature births occur among women with none of those problems, said Dr. HyagrivSimhan, director of the center for prematurity at Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland.

Women carrying multiple fetuses such as twins or triplets often have premature births, but even a woman with a single fetus who has taken fertility drugs is twice as likely as other women to deliver prematurely.

And although poor women, with traditionally less access to quality heath care, face higher-than-average rates of prematurity, the same is true of black women no matter what their income or educational level, Simhan said. In half of all cases, the reason for the pre-term birth is unknown.

"It's an understudied area, " Simhan said. "We're 25 years behind the heart attack docs (in research) and several billion dollars behind (in funding)."

Many studies are not medically invasive, and all seek to protect the subject's health, he said.

"We need pregnant women to participate in these studies,'' Simhan said. ""Research should not be feared."

Other factors that have U.S. prematurity rates higher than those of other industrialized nations -- and up 27 percent since 1981 -- might be stress and environmental toxins, researchers say.

The results for the children who survive -- some die within the first month of life -- can include blindness, chronic respiratory problems, cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

The March of Dimes is trying to draw attention to the cost to the community. Direct costs to employers for a premature birth are almost $42,000 -- 15 times that of a healthy, full-term delivery. Employers can expect nearly $3,000 in lost productivity as parents cope with the increased medical demands of a pre-term child.

"When they leave the (neo-natal ICU), the problem doesn't go away," said Debi Linhart,head of program services for the March of Dimes and CEO of the Magee-Womens Research Institute.

Women with previous premature births face a high risk of recurrence. Studies of the use of Omega 3 fish oil supplements, as well as weekly progesterone shots called 17p-- not yet FDA-approved for this use, but available because it was approved and sold through the early 1990s as a pregnancy aid -- suggest improved odds of full-term births, Simhan said.

It's a chance that Angela Todd, of West Mifflin, is willing to take. A botanical archivist at Carnegie Mellon University, Todd gave birth to Otto, in March 2003 at just 24 weeks.

The boy spent three months in a neo-natal intensive care unit, followed by three weeks at The Children's Home transitional facility where Todd learned such skills as how to change Otto's oxygen tubes.

"It's exhausting. It's heartbreaking," Todd said. "But all that angst is outweighed by ten times the joy."

At 3, Otto is a healthy, developmentally on-track boy who, Todd said, "reads, runs and revels." Todd is pregnant again, with a daughter due in January.

She urged expectant mothers to listen to their bodies. When, with Otto, she began showing signs of complications at 20 weeks, she called her doctor despite fears she might be overreacting.

"I wondered, 'Am I being a hypochondriac?' " Todd recalled. "It ended up saving his life."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_474296.html 新手请求认领,将尽力翻译。 Premature births a growing issue
早产问题日益严重
By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW(匹兹堡)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
2006年10月10日 星期二
The number of babies born dangerously early and at risk of lifelong health problems is on the rise both nationally and in Pittsburgh, and many of the reasons remain unexplored.
One out of every eight births in the U.S. occurs at 37 weeks' gestation or sooner -- three weeks earlier than what doctors consider a full-term baby, according to 2003 figures compiled by the March of Dimes.
无论是在整个美国还是在匹兹堡,过早出生而处于危险状态的新生儿数量越来约多,而引起这一状况的原因却未知。根据March of Dimes网站2003年的统计结果,美国有八分之一的新生儿出生于孕后37周或者更早,而这比医生们认为的正常足孕期提前了三周以上。

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作者:admin@医学,生命科学    2011-02-28 05:12
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