You can display a site-wide message here!
Please select a theme to preview on mobile
1 2 3 4 5

Get Healthy!

Results for search "Premature Birth".

21 Aug

Smoking Just 1-2 Cigarettes a Day Before or During Pregnancy Is a Danger to Newborn Health, Study Finds

A new study suggests there is no safe time or level for smoking cigarettes before or during pregnancy.

Health News Results - 79

29 Nov
Premature Birth Could Impact Life Span for Decades

Premature Birth Could Impact Life Span for Decades

Premature babies not only face serious and immediate health consequences: New research shows they are also more likely to die early, a risk that persists into their 30s.

"Understanding the long-term effects of preterm birth can help us develop preventative strategies and...

25 Nov
Illinois Study Finds Steep Rise in Serious Complications of Pregnancy

Illinois Study Finds Steep Rise in Serious Complications of Pregnancy

MONDAY, Nov. 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Chronic health problems like high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and obesity have fueled a troubling rise in maternal healt...

08 Nov
Being Born Preterm Tied to Lifelong Harms in Employment, Education

Being Born Preterm Tied to Lifelong Harms in Employment, Education

Babies born preterm face a life of lowered prospects, a new study warns.

Adults who were preemies are less likely to achieve higher education or snag a high-paying job, researchers reported Nov. 6 in the journal ...

28 Oct
Having a Preemie Baby Can Harm Job Prospects, Income

Having a Preemie Baby Can Harm Job Prospects, Income

The health problems of preemie babies cause untold heartache for new parents.

But these families also face a strained financial future, a new study finds.

About 30% of parents with a very low birth weight baby, under 3.3 pounds, have had to make serious decisions a...

27 Sep
U.S. Preterm Births Are on the Rise

U.S. Preterm Births Are on the Rise

Over the past decade, rates of preterm birth in the United States jumped more than 10%, a new study of more than 5 million births shows.

The rise dovetailed with an increase in some factors that make an early delivery more likely, including rates of

14 Aug
Not Born Equal: Preemie Babies Fall Into 3 Risk Categories

Not Born Equal: Preemie Babies Fall Into 3 Risk Categories

Not all babies born prematurely will suffer long-term developmental problems, a new study finds.

Preemies tend to fall into three risk categories, with about one in five (20%) scoring above average on standard cognitive tests, researchers reported Aug. 13 in the journal ...

12 Aug
Blood Test Can Predict a Dangerous Lung Issue for Preemie Babies

Blood Test Can Predict a Dangerous Lung Issue for Preemie Babies

Simantha Nation’s son, Atticus, struggled to breathe from his very first gasp for air.

Born very preterm at 26 weeks’ gestation, Atticus was rushed to the NICU, where he was intubated and connected to a ventilator.

The first time Nation saw her son, h...

26 Jun
Obesity May Be Even Less Healthy If Child Was Born Underweight

Obesity May Be Even Less Healthy If Child Was Born Underweight

Low-birth-weight newborns have a higher risk of health complications if they become obese as children, a new study has found.

Obese children who were low-birth-weight babies have a higher risk of insulin resistance, fatty liver and other health problems, researchers foun...

13 Jun
Could Moms of Low-Birth-Weight Babies Face Higher Dementia Risk Later?

Could Moms of Low-Birth-Weight Babies Face Higher Dementia Risk Later?

Women who deliver low-birth-weight babies could be more likely to have memory and thinking problems later in life, a new study warns.

As seniors, these women had brain test scores that indicated one to two years of additional aging in their memory and thinking skills, co...

23 Apr
Women in the Military at Risk for Low-Weight Babies

Women in the Military at Risk for Low-Weight Babies

Active military service appears to increase a woman's risk of having a low birthweight baby, a new review finds.

Nearly two-thirds of studies (63%) conclude that women on active service could be at higher risk of having a baby with low birth weight, researchers reported ...

20 Mar
Lupus, Type 1 Diabetes Linked to Pregnancy Complications

Lupus, Type 1 Diabetes Linked to Pregnancy Complications

People with autoimmune disorders such as lupus, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis tend to have fewer children, and women with this class of illnesses often have higher risks for complications of pregnancy, new research shows.

Researchers in Finland compared pregna...

27 Feb
A Warming World May Mean More Premature Births

A Warming World May Mean More Premature Births

Surging temperatures caused by climate change could lead to more premature births worldwide, a new study reports.

Researchers found a strong association between exposure to extreme heat during the third trimester of pregnancy and the risk of premature delivery.

"Hi...

14 Feb
Study Finds No Link Between Premature Birth, Autism

Study Finds No Link Between Premature Birth, Autism

There is no significant link between premature birth and autism, new research out of Israel suggests. 

Findings from the study of more than 100,000 deliveries were presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine in National Harbor, Md.

...

07 Feb
Plastics Chemicals Tied to Preemie Births Add Billions in Medical Costs

Plastics Chemicals Tied to Preemie Births Add Billions in Medical Costs

Preterm births linked to "hormone-disruptor"chemicals in plastics cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars, a new study claims.

Daily exposure to phthalates -- chemicals used to manufacture plastics -- might be tied to nearly 56,000 preterm births in the Unit...

06 Feb
Ultrasound Could Spot Placenta Issues Tied to Low Birth Weight

Ultrasound Could Spot Placenta Issues Tied to Low Birth Weight

Using ultrasound to measure blood flow in the placenta and the fetus could help spot issues tied to low birth weight, researchers report.

As the Dutch investigators explained, about 10% of fetuses are determined to be "small for gestational age" after ultrasound examinat...

30 Jan
Flame Retardant Chemicals Show Links to Preterm Birth

Flame Retardant Chemicals Show Links to Preterm Birth

Pregnant women exposed to flame-retardant chemicals could face an increased risk of premature birth, a new study warns.

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are commonly used as flame retardants in products like furniture, baby items, electronics, clothes and building materials...

26 Jan
Being Born Even a Bit Early Could Harm a Child's Development

Being Born Even a Bit Early Could Harm a Child's Development

Babies born even slightly early have a higher long-term risk of developmental difficulties that could affect their behavior and learning ability, a new study finds.

Infants born moderately (32-33 weeks) or late preterm (34-36 weeks) are more likely to have epilepsy or pr...

25 Jan
High-Tech Ultrasound Might Predict Risk for Premature Delivery

High-Tech Ultrasound Might Predict Risk for Premature Delivery

Ultrasound scans that pick up "microstructural" changes in a woman's cervix could point to her having a higher risk for preterm birth, researchers report.

The scans were done as early as week 23 of pregnancy and could help assess risks for "preemie" delivery, even among ...

04 Dec
Immediate Body Contact With Parents Helps Preemie Newborns Thrive

Immediate Body Contact With Parents Helps Preemie Newborns Thrive

Having mom or dad hold their preemie baby against their own skin immediately after birth appears to help the infants in their development months later, new research shows.

In many neonatal wards, babies born prematurely are transferred soon after delivery to an incubator...

28 Nov
COVID Vaccines Curbed Pandemic-Linked Surge in Preemie Births

COVID Vaccines Curbed Pandemic-Linked Surge in Preemie Births

COVID vaccines saved the lives and health of countless babies by preventing their premature births, a new study shows.

COVID-19 initially caused an alarming surge in premature birth rates, but those returned to pre-pandemic levels following the introduction of vaccines, ...

16 Nov
Cannabis Use During Pregnancy Ups Risk of Premature Birth, Low Birth Weight Babies

Cannabis Use During Pregnancy Ups Risk of Premature Birth, Low Birth Weight Babies

THURSDAY, Nov. 16, 2023 (Healthday News) -- Using cannabis during pregnancy may not be as benign as some think, with a new review showing it raises the risk for both premature and low birth weight newborns.

In turn, that raised the chances of these infants winding up in ...

15 Nov
Waiting to Clamp Umbilical Cord May Save Preemies' Lives

Waiting to Clamp Umbilical Cord May Save Preemies' Lives

The timing of a simple, standard part of childbirth could mean the difference between life and death for premature babies, a pair of new evidence reviews have concluded.

Preemies whose umbilical cords are clamped 30 seconds to two minutes after birth are less likely to d...

16 Oct
Car Exhaust Could Harm a Woman's Pregnancy

Car Exhaust Could Harm a Woman's Pregnancy

Air pollution from heavy traffic may be driving pregnancy complications and health concerns for infants.

Researchers who matched more than 60,000 birth records with air-monitoring data found that pregnant patients living in an urban area with elevated levels of nitrogen ...

28 Sep
Coffee Won't Raise Preemie Birth Risk, But Smoking Certainly Will: Study

Coffee Won't Raise Preemie Birth Risk, But Smoking Certainly Will: Study

Smoking during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for premature births, but drinking coffee is not, new research suggests.

Women who smoked during pregnancy were 2.6 times more likely to give birth prematurely compared to nonsmokers, a risk that was double that of pr...

19 Sep
Future of 'Artificial Wombs' for Human Preemies to Be Weighed by FDA Advisors

Future of 'Artificial Wombs' for Human Preemies to Be Weighed by FDA Advisors

Advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will weigh the possibilities and parameters of experiments with artificial wombs for premature human babies.

Scientists have already had some success with the concept in animals.

During a two-day

01 Sep
For Preemie Babies, Preschool Plus Parenting Can Spell Academic Success

For Preemie Babies, Preschool Plus Parenting Can Spell Academic Success

Infants born three to six weeks early -- considered late preterm -- are at risk for learning problems, but they can be overcome, researchers say.

Preschool attendance and sensitive parenting can help them bridge the gap academically, a new study shows.

"Our findin...

09 Aug
Some Newborns Need Methadone Post-Surgery, But Use Brings Problems

Some Newborns Need Methadone Post-Surgery, But Use Brings Problems

About 1 in 5 newborns hospitalized for surgery to treat a life-threatening bowel infection are given opioids for pain relief and some then need methadone to wean off the addictive drugs.

But there is wide variability in use of opioids after surgery in infants, and babies...

07 Aug
Rate of Preterm Births Is Higher for Black Americans

Rate of Preterm Births Is Higher for Black Americans

Black women have significantly more preterm births than white women do, and though almost a third of these extra cases can be explained by heart issues and social factors, the rest remain a mystery.

However, targeting those known factors could improve birth outcomes, a n...

04 Aug
Steroids That Can Save Preemie Babies May Have Health Downsides

Steroids That Can Save Preemie Babies May Have Health Downsides

Steroids are often unnecessarily prescribed to pregnant women thought to be at risk of preterm birth, a new evidence review contends.

As a result, millions of babies are needlessly exposed to long-term health problems associated with steroid use in gestation, such as inc...

21 Jul
Dad's Mental Illness Raises Risk of Premature Birth

Dad's Mental Illness Raises Risk of Premature Birth

It's not only a mother's mental health that is tied to the risk for preterm birth -- the father's matters, too.

New research found that the risk of premature birth was higher for infants whose mothers or fathers had a psychiatric diagnosis than for those whose parents di...

04 May
Dangerous Infections in 'Preemie' Babies May Begin in the Gut

Dangerous Infections in 'Preemie' Babies May Begin in the Gut

About half of extremely preterm babies have at least one life-threatening bacterial infection in their bloodstream after 72 hours of life.

Now, new research points to the babies' own gut microbiomes as the source.

Knowing that the most common bacteria in bloodstr...

06 Apr
FDA Withdraws Approval of Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

FDA Withdraws Approval of Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday formally withdrew its approval of a drug that was meant to prevent preterm births.

Sold as Makena, the drug was first approved in 2011 under the FDA's accelerated approval program, but subsequent research questioned the m...

27 Mar
Loud Incubators Might Damage Preemie Babies' Hearing

Loud Incubators Might Damage Preemie Babies' Hearing

While an incubator can save the life of a premature baby, it may be contributing to hearing loss in these vulnerable infants.

A new study published March 27 in Frontiers in Pediatrics assessed the sounds in the neonatal intensive care unit, evaluating the impact...

09 Mar
Fewer Tiny Newborns Are Dying of Intestinal Necrosis, But Many Tragedies Remain

Fewer Tiny Newborns Are Dying of Intestinal Necrosis, But Many Tragedies Remain

Jennifer Canvasser had never heard of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) before she gave birth to twins three months prematurely in 2011, but she has since devoted her life to raising awareness about this potentially fatal intestinal disease.

Her son Micah developed NEC whe...

08 Mar
Preterm Birth Drug Pulled From Market Over Lack of Effectiveness

Preterm Birth Drug Pulled From Market Over Lack of Effectiveness

Pregnant women will no longer have any drug to prevent preterm birth after the maker of the only available treatment announced Tuesday that it will withdraw its product, Makena, from the market.

Covis Pharma Group's decision follows a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ad...

02 Mar
COVID Lockdowns Linked to Decline in Premature Births

COVID Lockdowns Linked to Decline in Premature Births

Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries -- including the Unite...

17 Feb
Complication Risks Rise in Pregnancies Among the Very Young

Complication Risks Rise in Pregnancies Among the Very Young

Pregnant girls who are especially young, those only 10 to 15 years old, face increased risks for complications that include preeclampsia and C-section, according to new research.

Investigators from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas also found that...

13 Feb
Wildfire Smoke May Send Pregnant Women Into Premature Labor

Wildfire Smoke May Send Pregnant Women Into Premature Labor

Exposure to wildfire smoke can increase the risk of premature birth, new research suggests.

For the study, the researchers reviewed birth certificates and hospital delivery data for more than 2.5 million pregnant women in California from 2007 to 2012, and used satellite ...

02 Feb
Pregnancy Complications Could Mean Lifelong Heart Risks for Women

Pregnancy Complications Could Mean Lifelong Heart Risks for Women

Major pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia and preterm birth, should be recognized as lifelong risk factors for women's heart disease, new research suggests.

Women who experience any of the five major pregnancy complications have an increased risk of ischemic...

19 Jan
Preterm Birth Tied to Lower IQs, Poorer School Grades

Preterm Birth Tied to Lower IQs, Poorer School Grades

By the time they're teenagers, babies born prematurely may be getting poorer school grades than their non-preemie peers.

Researchers found that babies born before 34 weeks of pregnancy had lower scores on math and language tests during their teen years compared to kids b...

16 Dec
Youngest Kids in Class More Likely to Get Prescribed ADHD Meds

Youngest Kids in Class More Likely to Get Prescribed ADHD Meds

Kids who are the youngest in their grade may be overmedicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a Norwegian researcher who studied prescribing data.

Those who were also born preterm were at particular risk of being overmedicated, said

14 Dec
States That Restrict Abortions Have More Maternal, Infant Deaths

States That Restrict Abortions Have More Maternal, Infant Deaths

In U.S. states with more restrictive abortion policies, rates of pregnant women, new mothers and infants dying were higher, a new report finds.

The

13 Dec
Formula Feeding Raises Odds for Anemia in Very 'Preemie' Babies

Formula Feeding Raises Odds for Anemia in Very 'Preemie' Babies

Babies born prematurely who are fed formula may need iron supplementation like their breastfed counterparts, new research suggests.

"Just because a baby is on iron-rich formula, we should not assume all of their iron needs are being met, since iron from the formula may ...

17 Nov
U.S. Premature Births Hit Highs Not Seen in 15 Years

U.S. Premature Births Hit Highs Not Seen in 15 Years

More than 1 in every 10 births in the United States now occur prematurely, and the number of these more dangerous deliveries jumped by 4% during 2021, a new report from the March of Dimes shows.

The premature birth rate has now reached 10.5% of all births -- the highest ...

02 Nov
Hormonal Treatment in Pregnancy Won't Lower Odds for Preterm Birth

Hormonal Treatment in Pregnancy Won't Lower Odds for Preterm Birth

A hormone therapy commonly used to prevent preterm births probably isn't effective, a new study reports.

Doctors have been prescribing vaginal progesterone treatments to help at-risk pregnant women delay delivery for as long as possible, researchers said.

But a new...

31 Oct
Stress + Air Pollution a Bad Combo in Pregnancy: Study

Stress + Air Pollution a Bad Combo in Pregnancy: Study

Protecting pregnant women from air pollution may improve the birth weight of their babies, a new study suggests.

This is especially important for stressed-out mothers who live in neighborhoods burdened by poor air quality.

A mother-to-be's exposure to both

19 Oct
FDA Panel Votes for Removal of Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

FDA Panel Votes for Removal of Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Wednesday voted to recommend that a controversial drug meant to prevent premature births be pulled from the market.

FDA officials have

17 Oct
FDA, Company Square Off in Hearing Over Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

FDA, Company Square Off in Hearing Over Drug Meant to Prevent Preterm Births

In a three-day hearing that began Monday, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will give the maker of a drug meant to prevent premature births a chance to show why its drug should not be pulled off the market.

FDA officials have

27 Sep
Anxiety During Pregnancy Could Mean Earlier Delivery

Anxiety During Pregnancy Could Mean Earlier Delivery

Too much anxiety isn't good for anyone, but a new study suggests it is particularly perilous for pregnant women because it can raise the chances of their ...

18 Aug
Kids Born Premature Lag in Elementary School, But Most Catch Up Later

Kids Born Premature Lag in Elementary School, But Most Catch Up Later

While babies born prematurely may lag behind their elementary school peers, they eventually catch up, British researchers report.

By the end of high school, only the kids born before 32 weeks of gestation were continuing to struggle, according to a new study published on...

Show All Health News Results