Background: Preterm babies have increased risk of morbidity and mortality which is inversely related to both gestational age and birth weight. Most preterm births result from maternal or foetal medical conditions. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and outcome of preterm admissions at the Special Care Baby Unit of the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, as well as their morbidity pat...

Preterm birth is defined as birth before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation. The frequency of preterm birth in the United States increased from 10.7% in 1992 to 12.3% in 2003. 1 Preterm births can be categorized as those undertaken because of a specific indication or as spontaneous preterm births. Indicated preterm births occur when a health care provider delivers a baby because of medical...

1.1 Definitions Preterm birth (PTB) refers to the birth of a baby that occurs before 37 completed weeks of gestation. PTB can be further sub-categorized as late preterm delivery34 to 36 completed weeks gestation, moderately preterm32 to 34 completed weeks, very pretermless than 32 weeks, and extremely pretermless than 28 weeks gestation (Lockwood, et al., 2011). Preterm birth can also be define...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the recurrence risk of preterm delivery and estimate the perinatal mortality in repeated preterm deliveries. METHODS Prospective study in Tanzania of 18 176 women who delivered a singleton between 2000 and 2008 at KCMC hospital. The women were followed up to 2010 for consecutive births. A total of 3359 women were identified with a total of 3867 subsequent deliveries in ...

Preterm birth remains a considerable public health concern and priority. Little headway has been made in the prevention of preterm birth despite considerable research in this area. New ideas and treatments are desperately needed. The pessary has emerged as a possible treatment for the prevention of preterm birth in both singleton and twin gestations. It appears to be low cost with minimal side ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the extent to which stillbirths affect international comparisons of preterm birth rates in low- and middle-income countries. DESIGN Secondary analysis of a multi-country cross-sectional study. SETTING 29 countries participating in the World Health Organization Multicountry Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health. POPULATION 258 215 singleton deliveries in 286 hospitals...

AIM To analyse the association between maternal periodontitis and preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation) according to the causes of preterm birth. MATERIALS AND METHODS Epipap is a case-control multi-centre study of singleton livebirths. One thousand one hundred and eight women with preterm deliveries and 1094 with deliveries at term (> or =37 weeks) at six French maternity units were included....

IMPORTANCE Preterm birth is a leading cause of neonatal mortality, with a variety of contributing causes and risk factors. Environmental exposures represent a group of understudied, but potentially important, factors. Phthalate diesters are used extensively in a variety of consumer products worldwide. Consequently, exposure in pregnant women is highly prevalent. OBJECTIVE To assess the relati...

Preterm birth is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the neonatal period (Ward and Beachy 2003) and in childhood overall (McCormick, 1985). Over recent decades both the incidence of preterm birth and survival rates of preterm infants has increased, with babies born as early as 25 weeks gestation now having about an 80% chance of survival (Kutz et al., 2009). Preterm birth is defined...

OBJECTIVES Black women have increased risk of preterm birth compared to white women, and overall black women are in poorer health than white women. Recent recommendations to reduce preterm birth have focused on preconception health care. We explore the associations between indicators of maternal prepregnancy health with preterm birth among a sample of black women. DESIGN The current study was...