The Causes of Premature Babies

What is the official definition of prematurity and how and why are some babies born early? Neonatalogists explain the links between race, wealth and other factors on the chances of having a premature baby.

Dr. William Meadow: Well the official definitions of pre-maturity are either that a baby is born under 2500 grams which is about 5 pounds, or a baby has born under a 37 weeks gestation which is to say about a month early. Dr. Jeremy Marks: Don't know why babies are born premature. Some babies are born premature because of an infection. Mother gets an infection of the membranes and we don't know why but that stimulates labor and the baby comes too early. By far the most common cause of pre-maturity is completely unknown. Dr. William Meadow: There are things that we know they are associated with pre-maturity being poor is associated with pre-maturity, being Black is associated with pre-maturity. Interestingly, there are things we know they are associated with not a greater risk of pre-maturity including being Asian and rich. Dr. Jeremy Marks: We used to think that mothers that didn't have prenatal care were more likely be born premature. But we know now that mothers with prenatal care are more likely to have problems themselves and problems with their babies won't get picked up quite as early. And we also think that mothers who don't have as much as money as some or a lower associate of economic classes tend to have more premature births. Dr. William Meadow: About one baby in 20 over all is born premature. If you are Black the ratio is almost twice as much, if you are poor the ratio is almost twice as much. You can do studies and my colleagues have tried to do them where you could for instance take an ethnic Black from Ghana and move them to London and what happens to their relative risk. Many of these studies have been done in the States, and the answer is, are complicated. If you're poor Black, it's worse than if you are rich Black but if you are rich Black it's not as good as if you are rich White.