Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 11;33(24):e170.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2018.33.e170. eCollection 2018 Jun 11.

Recurrent Risk of Preterm Birth in the Third Pregnancy in Korea

Yung-Taek Ouh  1 , Jong Heon Park  2 , Ki Hoon Ahn  1 , Soon-Cheol Hong  1 , Min-Jeong Oh  1 , Hai-Joong Kim  1 , Sung Won Han  3 , Geum Joon Cho  1
Affiliations

Recurrent Risk of Preterm Birth in the Third Pregnancy in Korea

Yung-Taek Ouh et al. J Korean Med Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Although preterm delivery is the most common cause of infant morbidity and mortality, an obvious cause cannot be found in most cases. Preterm delivery is known to be the most important risk factor for preterm birth in a subsequent pregnancy. We aimed to evaluate the recurrence rate of premature births for subsequent pregnancies in women with a history of a preterm birth.

Methods: Study data were collected from the Korea National Health Insurance (KNHI) claims database and data from a national health-screening program for infants and children. We enrolled women who had their first delivery between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 and a subsequent delivery before 2014.

Results: Preterm delivery had a significant higher risk of preterm birth in a subsequent singleton pregnancy. The risk of preterm birth at second pregnancy was 2.2% in women whose first delivery at ≥ 37 weeks and 18.6% in women whose first delivery at < 37 weeks (relative risks [RR], 8.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.94-9.40). In the analysis of the third pregnancy, we compared women with an initial term birth followed by preterm birth and women with an initial preterm birth followed by a subsequent term birth. A history of a just preceding preterm birth at < 37 weeks was the most relevant factor for recurrence of preterm delivery in a subsequent pregnancy (26.6%, RR, 4.01; 95% CI, 2.45-6.58).

Conclusion: We found that the prognosis of a third pregnancy was more closely related to the outcome of the second pregnancy to that of the first pregnancy.

Keywords: Preterm Birth; Recurrence; Recurrence Risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Patient screening and enrollment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ananth CV, Joseph KS, Oyelese Y, Demissie K, Vintzileos AM. Trends in preterm birth and perinatal mortality among singletons: United States, 1989 through 2000. Obstet Gynecol. 2005;105(5 Pt 1):1084–1091. - PubMed
    1. Demissie K, Rhoads GG, Ananth CV, Alexander GR, Kramer MS, Kogan MD, et al. Trends in preterm birth and neonatal mortality among blacks and whites in the United States from 1989 to 1997. Am J Epidemiol. 2001;154(4):307–315. - PubMed
    1. Wen SW, Smith G, Yang Q, Walker M. Epidemiology of preterm birth and neonatal outcome. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2004;9(6):429–435. - PubMed
    1. Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Mathews TJ, Kirmeyer S, et al. Births: final data for 2007. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2010;58(24):1–85. - PubMed
    1. Romero R, Espinoza J, Kusanovic JP, Gotsch F, Hassan S, Erez O, et al. The preterm parturition syndrome. BJOG. 2006;113(Suppl 3):17–42. - PMC - PubMed