A study conducted over 15 years shows that too many babies in the U.S. are born to soon, without medical reasons.
Approximately 1 in 25 babies are born before their full term is complete, through cesarean sections or induced labor, without appropriate justification. The population-based study occurred between 1995 and 2009 in California, Missouri and Pennsylvania. These three states account for 20% of all U.S. births.
The American Public Health Association published the findings in the journal Medical Care. "Our study showed that early elective deliveries are making up between 3 and 4 percent of U.S. births each year. This may seem to be a small number, but with 4 million births a year in the U.S., each percentage point represents 40,000 babies," said Lead author Katy B. Kozhimannil.
In total, 7.3 million preterm births were recorded. The large amount of data allowed researchers to see patterns and analyze them to understand the effects of preterm births.
Non-indicated preterm births are births given early without medical reasons. They occur more often if mothers were older, more educated, had private health insurance and gave birth at a smaller hospital, according to a public release statement from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
Scott A. Lorch, one of the authors of the study and a neonatologist at CHOP, said that more and more studies are coming out that indicate worsening health problems for babies who are delivered before 40 weeks of gestation, These results have been compared to babies born after the full gestation period.
Early-term, non-indicated cesarean sections can double the risk of respiratory distress for newborns. In addition C-sections and induced labors, result in significantly longer hospital stays for the infants.
The study shows that non-indicated early births are on the rise. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine have made substantial recommendations against non-indicated early term births, but to little or no avail. ACOG warns that in addition to respiratory distress, transient tachypnea, a neonatal lung condition, and pneumonia are more likely to occur for unnecessary preterm births. In such births, overall neonatal intensive care unit admission rates were higher.
"While prior research has shown that early elective delivery policies can be highly effective within particular healthcare systems, there is a need to address this issue at the population level," says Kozhimannil.
