Premature Births Mean Less Fertile Individuals

Premature babies are considered those born before 37 weeks. Even if there are a lot of studies showing the short term effect on the health of the babies of the premature births, a new research investigating about 1.2 million births in Norway pointed the effect of a premature birth in the health of the adults. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that premature babies have an increased risk of dying as children and to reproduce as adults. The academic results of the premature born people were lower, too.

Boys have a risk of premature birth 60% higher, which is accompanied in short term by potentially lethal conditions, like the respiratory distress syndrome. The American-Norwegian team monitored 60,354 premature births. In the case of babies born very early, at 22 to 27 weeks, mortality levels were, by the age of six, 5 times higher in boys and 10 times higher in girls. By the age of 13, the boys of this category had a mortality level 7 times higher than their full-term counterparts, while the girls were not impacted by the premature birth.

In the case of those born between 28 and 32 weeks, boys had a 2.5 higher likelihood of dying compared to their full-term counterparts, while mortality rate was not affected in the case of premature girls. The overall death level for all premature born children was relatively low, around 1%.

But the prematurely born individuals had lower chances of finishing secondary school and to have their own children. 14% of premature-born men and 25% of premature born women had their own natural children, compared to 50% of the full term born men and 68% of the full term born women.

The cause of premature birth are not clearly known, but poor diet and lifestyle are involved. Moreover, individuals analyzed in this research were born as far back as 1967, when intensive care units for premature babies were not common.

Still "premature birth is a bigger problem than people think. These findings support the argument for further research to be done into finding the causes of premature birth, so that more babies can be given the best chance of being born healthy," Jane Brewin, the head of the UK leading baby charities, Tommy's, told BBC News.

MORE RELATED ARTICLES: The Weak Sex: Newborn Boys Are More Likely to Die Than Newborn Girls Contraceptive Pills Can Schedule Ovulation Neolithic: the New Stone Age This Is the Time to Become a Male: 8-14 Weeks of Pregnancy How HIV Kills Through a Diarrhea An Unhappy Marriage Can Kill You Disastrous Mini Ice Age around 536 AD, Caused by Volcanic Megablast Kalash: The People of the Nine Skies Namib Desert: The Tallest Dunes Yak Cheese Is a Miracle