A study has found that the number of premature births has risen significantly and that survival rates for babies born too early have also improved.
Researchers at Edinburgh University, looking at almost 90,000 births, found that the risk of neonatal death from premature birth more than halved between 1980 and 2005.
The number of premature babies rose from 54 per 1,000 births between 1980 and 1985 to 63 between 2000 and 2005. They also found that stillbirth associated with pre-term births also fell, by 10%.
High blood pressure and diabetes were often the main cause of the woman giving birth prematurely.
The study showed that improvements in the survival rates of premature babies were greater when births were medically-induced or by pre-planned Caesarean section compared with pre-term births in which labour occurred naturally.
The researchers said the findings supported moves towards more medically-induced early births, with these pre-term deliveries up more than 40% compared to a 10% increase in early births from natural onset of labour.Gestational DiabetesResearchers found a seven-fold increase in premature births where the expectant mothers were diabetic before becoming pregnant. Premature births linked to gestational diabetes also increased four-fold over the period.
However, high blood pressure in expectant mums remained the major factor linked to pre-term births. A rise in the average age of women becoming pregnant was not found to have affected the incidence of premature births.
Professor Jane Norman, director of the Tommy's Centre for Maternal and Fetal Health Research at the University of Edinburgh, said:
"The increase in survival rates for babies born prematurely backs up decisions by doctors to medically induce births to prevent potential complications. The increase in diabetes as a factor in premature births is also interesting and may be because there are more women with pre-existing diabetes - which is linked to obesity - as well as better diagnosis of expectant mothers with gestational diabetes."
Premature births are linked to more than 66% of single baby still births, 65% of single baby neonatal deaths and 67% of infants who have a prolonged stay in the neonatal unit.
September 2009
The research was originally published in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine. | 
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