The majority of epidemiological studies of breast feeding have been conducted in healthy, fullterm infant samples. Little is known about the incidence and correlates of breast milk feeding in preterm infants, particularly in those born outside of metropolitan areas. Therefore, hospital medical charts of 151 consecutively admitted preterm infants (</=34 weeks gestational age), in the US, were re...

BACKGROUND Current fetal-infant growth references have an obvious growth disjuncture around 40 week gestation overlapping where the fetal and infant growth references are combined. Graphical smoothening of the disjuncture to connect the matching percentile curves has never been validated. This study was designed to compare weight gain patterns of contemporary preterm infants with a fetal-infant...

Approximately 20.6 million preterm infants with LBW (less than 2,500 g) are born every year worldwide [1]. Preterm infant birth accounted for 7.6% of the total number of births in Hong Kong in 2004 [2]. The survival rate of preterm infants with LBW has been increasing since the 1980s because of the advancement in high-technology neonatal care [3]. Studies have reported that preterm infants are ...

In 2005, the United States ranked 30th in the world in infant mortality. Infant mortality rates for preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) infants are lower in the United States than in most European countries; however, infant mortality rates for infants born at 37 or more weeks of gestation are higher in the United States than in most European countries. One in 8 births in the United States were pre...

OBJECTIVE Pregnancy, birth and health complications, maternal mental health problems following preterm birth and their possible impact on early mother-infant interaction at 6 and 18 months corrected age (CA) were explored. Predictors of mother-infant interaction at 18 months CA were identified. DESIGN AND METHODS This prospective longitudinal and observational study included 33 preterm mother...

Preterm birth constitutes a potential risk factor for infant development. There is evidence that parental sensitivity and responsivity can compensate for biological risk. Since the birth of a preterm infant often constitutes a crisis for parents, they may be impaired in their ability to relate appropriately to their infants. The nursing staff can play a vital role in enhancing the interaction b...

In the United States, different racial and ethnic groups have very different infant mortality patterns. When assessing the relative contribution of the percentage of preterm births and gestational age-specific infant mortality rates to racial and ethnic infant mortality differences, we found that for non-Hispanic black women, 78 percent of their elevated infant mortality rate compared with non-...

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the general population. Pregnancy and preterm delivery are known as risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. Consequently, vitamin D level in women with preterm deliveries might vary from those with term pregnancies. In this study, we aimed to compare vitamin D level in term and preterm infant–mother pairs...

Preterm birth, a major determinant of infant mortality, has been increasing in recent years. The authors examined trends in preterm birth and its determinants by using the US birth and infant death files for 1989-1997. The impact of trends in preterm birth rates on neonatal and infant mortality was also evaluated. Among Whites, preterm births (<37 completed weeks of gestation) increased from 8....

BACKGROUND The nutrition and epidemiologic transition has been associated with an increasing incidence of preterm birth in developing countries, but data from large observational studies in China have been limited. Our study was to describe the trends and factors associated with the incidence of preterm birth and infant mortality due to prematurity in Hubei Province, China. METHODS We conduct...