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Review
. 2012 Jun;17(3):120-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.siny.2012.01.007. Epub 2012 Jan 20.

Epidemiology of late and moderate preterm birth

Carrie K Shapiro-Mendoza  1 , Eve M Lackritz
Affiliations
Review

Epidemiology of late and moderate preterm birth

Carrie K Shapiro-Mendoza et al. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Preterm birth affects 12.5% of all births in the USA. Infants of Black mothers are disproportionately affected, with 1.5 times the risk of preterm birth and 3.4 times the risk of preterm-related mortality. The preterm birth rate has increased by 33% in the last 25 years, almost entirely due to the rise in late preterm births (34-36 weeks' gestation). Recently attention has been given to uncovering the often subtle morbidity and mortality risks associated with moderate (32-33 weeks' gestation) and late preterm delivery, including respiratory, infectious, and neurocognitive complications and infant mortality. This section summarizes the epidemiology of moderate and late preterm birth, case definitions, risk factors, recent trends, and the emerging body of knowledge of morbidity and mortality associated with moderate and late preterm birth.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

None declared. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of preterm births by gestational age: United States, 2008. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/vitalstats.htm. [August 26, 2011].
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Trends in singleton preterm birth rates: United States, final 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005–2008. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/vitalstats.htm. [August 26, 2011].
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Percent of live births born moderate and late preterm by maternal age: United States, 2008. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/vitalstats.htm. [August 26, 2011].
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Percent of live births born moderate and late preterm by maternal race and Hispanic origin: United States, 2008. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/vitalstats.htm. [August 26, 2011].
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Infant mortality rates (per 1000 live births) by gestational age: United States, 2006. Source: United States Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS), Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Office of Analysis and Epidemiology (OAE), Division of Vital Statistics (DVS), Linked Birth/Infant Death Records 2003–2006 on CDC WONDER Online Database. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/lbd-current.html on Sep 27, 2011 03:40:20 PM.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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