Washington - The consequences of being prematurely born are large and lasting, which includes a greater risk of fatality during childhood and lesser rate of reproduction as grown ups, scientists reported on Tuesday.

This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The study followed about 1.2 million individuals born between1967 and 1988 in Norway.Though it is known that babies born earlier than the thirty seventh week of pregnancy or 3 weeks prior to the actual due date, are at greater risk for different developmental and medical problems as children only few things are known regarding their health in the long-term.

The researchers identified that the majority of premature babies had good reproduction and health in the long term but as a whole they had greater enduring problems than full-term babies.

Premature babies, popularly known as Preemies, had greater risk of childhood death, had somewhat lower academic attainment and were less probable to reproduce as grown-ups. In the case of women, they were more probable to give birth to premature babies.

“The earlier a baby is delivered during pregnancy, the greater the risk of enduring health consequences”, said Dr. Geeta Swamy who was one of the member of the research team.
Premature babies can develop health problems initially as their organs don’t have the required time for developing inside the womb.In industrialized countries premature birth remains to be a major cause for infant death.

The risk of problems is maximum in the 1st year of life, however the researchers said parents must be conscious that the risks can continue for years.”When a family has a premature baby, they are very much concerned and conscious of what is happening in those 1st few years of life.It can be that they have to maintain that increased alertness that there can be other things we must look out for,” said Dr. Geeta Swamy of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, in a telephone interview.

Babies who were born between 22 and 27 weeks of pregnancy had the greatest risk of death during childhood.For girls the risk continued till the age of 6 and for boys it continued till age of 13, she added.

The researchers also considered reproduction rates in adults as an indicator of total health, she said.In the study around 5 % of the babies were preemies, with boys more likely than girls. The study considered single births, omitting multiple births like twins who possess a greater risk to be delivered early.

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