Premature Births Can Lead to Infant Mortality Smokeout
November is Prematurity Awareness Month
One out of every eight babies born in Tennessee is premature, or born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, placing them at higher risk of death or surviving with health problems such as mental retardation, blindness, chronic lung disease and cerebral palsy. Please join the Department of Health and the March of Dimes to observe Prematurity Awareness Month this November and Prematurity Awareness Day on Tuesday, November 14.
”Women at greatest risk for giving birth prematurely are women who either have had a previous preterm birth, who are pregnant with more than one baby such as with twins, or who have uterine or cervical abnormalities,” said Health Commissioner Kenneth S. Robinson, M.D. “However, there are clearly many other factors that can also lead to premature births.”
Other factors can lead to premature births including late or no prenatal care, smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, using illegal drugs, domestic violence, stress, sexually transmitted diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, being underweight or obese and a short time period between pregnancies (less than six to nine months). Like other factors that contribute to infant mortality, premature births are not without health disparities. African-American women and women in poverty are at a greater risk than other women to give birth to a preterm baby. Women under 17 years old or older than 35 years old are also at high risk to deliver prematurely.
“Premature babies are almost 15 times more likely to die before their first birthday, with the babies’ risks further complicated by low birthweight, another contributing factor to infant mortality,” Robinson said.
Infant mortality refers to the death of a live-born infant at any point during the first year of life. Currently, Tennessee is ranked 48th in the nation for infant mortality rate (8.6), the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births, with only two states that have higher rates.
All local health department clinics provide pregnancy testing, screening for presumptive eligibility for TennCare and WIC. A list of local health departments is available on the Department of Health’s Web site at http://www2.state.tn.us/health/LocalDepts/ index.html.
If you or someone you love is pregnant and wants help to quit smoking, call the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine at 1-800-Quit-Now.
For more information on the March of Dimes Prematurity campaign, go to http://www.marchofdimes.com/.
For questions about healthy pregnancy outcomes, please call 1-800-LIVE-TO-1 or visit http://state.tn.us/health/infantmortality/. A toolkit is available for free download on the Web site with materials to create a display on how to prevent and reduce infant mortality in your community.