Prematurity is slowly becoming one of the evils of developed countries. Stress, rhythm of life, food, pollution and sure that a few more things are causing many babies to be born without having finished getting pregnant.
It is considered that a baby is born at term when it does after 38 weeks and it is normally said that a baby born between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation has little risk of long-term problems.
It seems that this is not entirely true, since even these children, who are considered "late premature", have a higher risk of developmental delay problems at school, according to a study. To conduct the investigation, 160,000 cases of babies born in single births between weeks 34 and 42 in Florida, between 1996 and 1997 were analyzed.
Most of them were born from week 37 (considered as full-term in the United States) and just over 7,000 children did between week 34 and 36.
The researchers compared birth information with school records up to 5 years and concluded that children born in the period between weeks 34 and 36 of gestation had 36% more likely to have a developmental delay or some type of disability in school age and a 19% higher risk of obtaining a suspension in primary education.
To talk about developmental delays or disability, they evaluated the physical, language, cognitive and socio-emotional development.
The number of babies born before week 34 remains more or less stable (we speak of the United States, where the research has been conducted), since 1990, however those born between week 34 and 36 have increased 25% since that time. year.
This alarming percentage is not only the fault of the degeneration of our customs, but it has As a great cause the medical indication.
That is why the author of the study, Dr. Steven Morse, director of Community Services for the newborn at the University of Florida, stated that "We wanted to call the attention of obstetricians, who have a difficult job balancing the medical risks of the mother and the fetus. This study provides a little more evidence regarding the risk. This study shows that a late premature baby is not what same as a term baby. "
There is a very typical phrase that says "not all apples fall at the same time". This phrase goes on to say that every baby needs a very particular time to get completely pregnant and it can be dangerous to induce some births that could take a little longer.
This reminds me of the scheduled deliveries of many celebrities, who in an attempt to save a few extra pounds, have their babies ahead of time. Incredible but true.
As opposed to the study, it occurs to me that being performed with children born more than 10 years ago may not reflect the actual situation. The kangaroo method and the care that is beginning to be taken in many neonatal areas with premature babies may be largely alleviating these results (I hope).
