Grim news on preterm births.

Infants born preterm-before 37 weeks' gestation-accounted for 13% of all U.S. births in 2005, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). (1) That proportion represents a 30% increase since 1981, and it differs considerably by race and ethnicity: Some 18% of births to black women in 2005 were preterm, compared with 11-12% among Asian, white and Hispanic women. Preterm birth, which can lead to long-term health and developmental problems, exacts a heavy economic toll-$26.2 billion, or $51,600 per infant, a year. Most of the expenditures go to medical care for the infant, but maternal care, early intervention services, special education for children who develop learning disabilities and lost productivity also contribute to the total. The IOM notes that "a host of socioeconomic, biological, environmental, and other factors, often in combination, increase a woman's chances of preterm delivery." As a result, it urges "integrated, multidisciplinary research" on the causes and outcomes of preterm birth, to help inform public policy and reduce the incidence of this outcome.

(1.) The National Academies, Preterm births cost U.S. $26 billion a year; multidisciplinary research effort needed to prevent early births, news release, Washington, DC: The National Academies, July 13, 2006.