Women Who Gave Birth to Premature Infants Are More at Risk of Early Death, Study Proves

Women who had preterm birth or gave birth to premature infants have a higher risk of early death. A study from Sweden published in "The BMJ Today" revealed that early-term childbirth is a risk factor that causes premature death in women of up to 40 years after delivery. 

Long term clinical follow-up is needed

The research team said that women who delivered premature babies should have long term clinical follow-up to detect and treat chronic illnesses linked to early deaths. They noted that diseases are not caused by genetics or other health factors in families. 

Worldwide, about 11 percent of the births are preterm (before 37 weeks of pregnancy). Those who gave birth prematurely or extremely preterm (between 22 to 27 weeks) have more risks of getting chronic illnesses. The reports show that these women could get heart disease or diabetes later in life. 

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Professor Casey Crump led his team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York to study the link between preterm childbirth and early mom death. Their goal was to study how long term death in mothers is linked to giving birth to premature infants. The team also wanted to know how genetics and the family environment affects these deaths. 

(Photo : unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon)

Died at an average age of 58

The researchers studied the data on pregnancy length for over two million Swedish women who have given birth between 1973 and 2015. They identified deaths from the Swedish Death Register up to December 31, 2016, and found that 3.5 percent of the women died at an average age of 58. This number is equivalent to 76,535 women.

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The research considered many other risk factors and revealed that women who gave birth prematurely and extremely prematurely were 1.7 and 2.2 times more at risk of death, respectively. Their findings noted that regardless of cause, these women had an excess of 28 deaths per 100,000 person-years in the next ten years than those who delivered in full term. 

Increased risks with longer follow-up times

While women who gave birth to premature infants had the highest risk during the first ten years after giving birth, the study found the link between early birth and death. It showed that increase in absolute differences in death is linked to preterm birth with longer follow-up times. 

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Specifically, ten to 19 years after giving birth, these women had 1.5 times increased risk (that is 48 excess deaths per 100,000 person-years) of death. Meanwhile, 20 to 44 years after giving birth, they are 1.4 times at risk (about 143 deaths per 100,000 person-years) of dying. 

In estimation, there are 2,654 deaths in women who gave birth prematurely, equating to one excess death per 73 women who had preterm childbirth. The causes of death were heart and respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer. The findings show that genes and the environment did not affect the results. 

The research team noted that they had some limitations in their study. They said that they lacked complete data on the preterm birth and the results might not apply to other countries. But the strengths of their study is that it had a large sample size and a long follow-up time.