Preterm birth is associated with higher risk of death

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Low gestational age (preterm birth) was associated with a higher risk for death in early childhood and young adulthood, according to a Swedish national cohort study published online September 20 in *JAMA*.

The study is the first “to report the specific contribution of gestational age at birth on mortality in adulthood,” write the authors, led by Casey Crump, MD, PhD, from the Department of Medicine, Stanford University, California. Given that prematurity is a huge problem in the United States, they argue that is essential to better understand the “persistent long-term health sequelae of preterm birth.”

With the number of preterm births rising, and large numbers of these children surviving to adulthood, better understanding of long-term outcomes is critically important to “enable earlier prevention, detection, and treatment of the long-term health sequelae,” the authors add.

Ref and Read more: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/750017?sssdmh=dm1.720000&src=nldne

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