14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 34% of the infant deaths registered in 2002 were the deaths of pre-term born babies. Out of the deaths occurring in pre-term born babies, 95% of them were born with at least 32 weeks before term and had low birth weights (under 1500 g.)
"Efforts to prevent infant deaths attributable to preterm birth require safely delaying birth until a later gestational age, when survival is more likely. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an expanded comprehensive agenda to understand the complex social and biological factors that determine susceptibility to preterm birth, to detect women at risk early in pregnancy, and to develop and to evaluate new methods for preventing this important cause of infant death", wrote the researchers in the Pediatrics Journal.
The leading causes which influenced pre-term deaths to become so popular were: short gestation/ low birth, maternal complications of pregnancy, complications of the placenta, cord and membranes, respiratory problems etc. Also, the results of the investigation led by the CDC experts showed that 66% of the pre-term deaths occurred within the 24 hour period from birth.
"On the basis of this evaluation, preterm birth is the most frequent cause of infant death in the United States, accounting for at least one third of infant deaths in 2002. The extreme prematurity of most of the infants and their short survival indicate that reducing infant mortality rates requires a comprehensive agenda to identify, to test, and to implement effective strategies for the prevention of preterm birth," concluded the team.