Premature Birth Rate Continuing to Rise
Despite research efforts and awareness campaigns sponsored by the March of Dimes and other organizations, recently released data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the rate of premature birth is still on the rise. According to the final birth data from 2005, the preterm births accounted for about 12.7% or 525,00 births that year, up from 12.5% in 2004. Preliminary data from 2006 indicate that these numbers are continuing to rise, with about 543,000 babies (12.8%) arriving too soon.
Premature birth is a serious problem, causing many longterm health and developmental complications. It’s also a very expensive problem, with preterm infants having an average first year medical cost about 10 times that of a full term infant.
OK, now we all know the problem, so what can we do about it?
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