NEW YORK, June 16, 2008
What's Behind The Preemie Trend?
As Premature Birth Numbers Soar, Experts Look For Ways To Stop It
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Play CBS Video Video Preventing Premature Births Over the last 25 years, the U.S. has seen a 30 percent spike in the number of premature births. Dr. Emily Senay reports on the nation's efforts to tackle this alarming trend.
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(AP)
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Rebecca Noto was born at 26 weeks and then spent five months in intensive care. She still faces expensive medical challenges.
"We consider Rebecca our million-dollar baby," said her father, Tom Noto. "Literally."
Now 4 1/2 years old, Rebecca is developmentally delayed. She uses a feeding tube, has problems with her lungs and can't climb stairs, CBS News medical correspondent Emily Senay reports.
"We don't know whether the delays that she has today are still going to be with her in five-to-10 years time," said her mother, Elaine Noto.
And, she part of an alarming trend.
"The United States is one of the worst of the developed countries in the rate of prematurity," said Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director of the March of Dimes.
According to Fleischman, one out of every eight babies is now born too early, and that costs the United States about $26 billion a year.
"We need to decrease the numbers of sick babies in our midst. We can't continue to increase prematurity," he said.
The federal government is hoping to reverse the trend, which experts say has many causes, including:
"A woman was supposed to have a baby after 40 weeks," said Dr. Alfred Khoury, director of maternal fetal medicine at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.
Khoury runs the high-risk pregancy unit at one of the nation's busiest labor and delivery hospitals. He worries women are becoming cavalier about delivering early.
"What we have done is we've started saying well, 37 is good enough," Khoury said. Patients will say: "'My mother in law is flying is and I'd like to have my c-section this week instead of in 2 weeks.'"
So Inova Fairfax no longer allows elective deliveries before 39 weeks.
Neonatologist Robin Baker says late preemies face developmental problems, just like babies born much earlier.
"And it's not uncommon for them to come out and still have respiratory problems. You know this infant still is at risk of dying. Just because they are born slightly preterm doesn't' take the risk to zero."
So today's surgeon general's conference is hoping to come up with an action plan by tomorrow.
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