According to new research appearing in Obstetrics & Gynecology, women who were born prematurely face an increased risk of going into preterm labor themselves. Strollerderby's Bethany Sanders reports today:
Researchers reviewed data from 22,343 pregnancies in Scotland that included 13,845 daughters born to 11,576 mothers over a 60 year time period. Defining preterm as births between 24 and 37 weeks and including only singleton births, researchers discovered that women who were preterm had a 60 percent increased risk of early labor. That risk went down to about 50 percent in pregnancies that followed.
In an accompanying editorial, Massachusetts General Hospital's William Barth Jr., MD, said the results confirm earlier research but probably won't change clinical practice. Still, as Sanders points out, "women who know they were born preterm can... mention that fact to their doctors so that they can be on the lookout as the pregnancy progresses."
Photo by Chiceaux
