Birth & Parenting News: Three More Weeks

In an effort to improve the health of infants, the March of Dimes, the National Institute of Health, and the US Food and Drug Administration have teamed up to change current beliefs that infants born at 37 weeks gestation fare as well as those born at 40 weeks. The study, titled “Term Pregnancy: A Period of Heterogeneous Risk for Infant Mortality,” was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vol. 117, No. 6, June 2011. The research showed the risk of infant mortality was the highest for infants born at 37 weeks and declined with each additional week until 40 weeks. In 2006 the infant mortality rate for babies born at 40 weeks was 1.9 for every 1,000 births. Just three weeks earlier, at 37 weeks, the rate increased to 3.9 per 1,000 births. This trend was noted in all ethnicities and races, although non-Hispanic black infants had the highest mortality and the smallest declines at weeks 37 and 38. It is absolutely apparent that each additional week of pregnancy is indeed beneficial to a newborn’s survival. For detailed national, state and local perinatal statistics visit the March of Dimes PeriStats web site.

Each Wednesday, our Birth & Parenting News blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.

Posted by Patty Brennan on August 1, 2011 • Filed under Birth & Parenting News
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