(USA Today / May 3, 2012) The first-ever country-by-country estimate of premature births finds that 15 million babies a year are born preterm — more than one in 10 live births.
About 1 million of those babies die shortly after birth, and countless others suffer a significant, life-long physical, neurological or educational disability, says a report, “Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth,” released Wednesday.
The findings “dispel the notion that this is a rare problem” and “leave no excuse for preterm births to remain a neglected problem,” said Joy Lawn, a director of global evidence and policy for Save the Children and co-editor of the report.
Although more than 60 percent of preterm births are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, they are also a problem for some high-income countries, including the U.S. and Brazil. Both rank among the 10 countries with the highest number of preterm births.
In the U.S., about 12 percent of all births are preterm, a percentage far higher than in European or other developed countries.
Factors driving up the rate in the U.S. include the number of older women having babies; increased use of fertility drugs, which increase the risk of multiple births; and increased rates of medically unnecessary Caesarean deliveries and inductions “done at the convenience of the doctor or mother,” said Christopher Howson, another co-editor of the report and head of global programs for the March of Dimes.