Late Preterm Births Increasing in U.S.
Reasons for early birth vary, but all premature babies face higher risks, experts warn
By Steven Reinberg
November 18, 2009
US News & World Report

he percentage of babies born preterm in the United States rose by more than 20 percent from 1990 to 2006, most delivered at the end of the preterm period, federal health officials report.

Every day in the United States, more than 900 of these "late preterm" births occur, adding up to 333,461 a year, according to the report, Born A Bit Too Early: Recent Trends in Late Preterm Births, issued by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.

"Late preterm birth, which are births ... just before term at 34 to 36 weeks of gestation, have increased quite dramatically over the last decade and a half," said CDC epidemiologist Joyce A. Martin, the report's lead author. ...