March of Dimes gives R.I. a ‘D’<br> for its pre-term birth rate

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – In the first of what it says will be an annual “Premature Birth Report Card,” the March of Dimes has rated how the nation as a whole, and each state, has done so far in reducing premature birth rates to the levels set in Healthy People 2010.
The United States got a “D,” and no state got an “A”; the only “B” went to Vermont, with a 9-percent premature birth rate, the lowest in the country. The national average in 2005, the year on which the grades are based, was 12.7 percent; Mississippi was the worst, at 18.8 percent.
Rhode Island got a “D” and was ranked 19th in the nation, with a 12.1-percent pre-term birth rate; Connecticut was third, at 10.4 percent, and Massachusetts was 10th, at 11.3 percent.
The numbers translate into more than 530,000 babies born each year in the United States before 37 weeks’ gestation (40 weeks is a full term). Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and a major cause of lifelong disability.
“It is unacceptable that our nation is failing so many pre-term babies,” Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes, said in a statement. “We are determined to find and implement solutions to prevent preterm birth, based on research, best clinical practices and improved education for moms.”
The report also looks at what it calls “contributing factors” and “prevention opportunities” in each state, including lack of insurance; smoking among women; and late pre-term births, at 34 to 36 weeks, which are on the rise, in part because of early scheduled caesarean sections.
Rhode Island’s pre-term birth rate is nearly 60 percent higher than the Healthy People 2010 goal of 7.6 percent, the report notes, and it rose by 27 percent between 1995 and 2005.
About one in seven women of childbearing age in Rhode Island is uninsured, the report says, and 18.9 percent of the state’s women of childbearing age smoke. In addition, 8.6 percent of live births in Rhode Island are late pre-term.
Along with the report card, the March of Dimes issued a petition for which it is collecting signatures, urging the federal government to increase support for prematurity-related research and data collection; urging federal and state policymakers to expand access to health coverage for women of childbearing age and to support smoking-cessation programs as part of maternity care; calling on hospitals and health care professionals to assess C-sections and labor inductions prior to 39 weeks’ gestation; and calling on businesses to create workplaces that support maternal and infant health.
The March of Dimes is a nonprofit group devoted to improving the improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. To learn more, read the report or look at the petition, go to www.MarchOfDimes.com.

No posts to display