The premature births would be a risk factor for type 1 diabetes andobesity, according to the rresults of a study published in the medical journal American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Babies born between 39 and 41 weeks pregnant have better health outcomes than those born just before or after.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion des Negev University (BGU) in Israel studied hospitalizations in children up to the age of 18 to determine the health impact of preterm births. Their study included 54,073 premature births and 171,000 full term.
Premature deliveries increase the risk of metabolic disorders
The results of this study showed that children over the age of five had significantly higher rates of type 1 diabetes, when they were born prematurely.
“We found that hospitalizations for endocrine and metabolic disorders were more frequent for the group of premature babies compared to the term group, especially from the age of 5 ”, explains Prof. Eyal Sheiner, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (FOHS) at BGU and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Center Soroka University Medical Center. In addition, obesity was significantly more frequent in premature babies ”.
The study also showed that preterm deliveries were likely to be complicated by hypertensive disorders and maternal, gestational and pre-gestational diabetes. The deliveries are then rather by cesareanand the average birth weight is significantly lower. Babies born at an early stage are more likely to be low birth weight, less than 2.5 kilograms.
Read also:
Premature births: watch out for sleep disorders
Premature babies: a device to improve their survival
Cameras to track premature babies