Describing the Increase in Preterm Births in the United States, 2014-2016.

Infants born before 37 weeks of gestation, commonly referred to as preterm, are at greater risk of early death than those born later in pregnancy and can suffer numerous health and developmental problems, especially at earlier gestational ages (1-3). The incidence of preterm birth in the United States rose from the early 1980s through 2006 but declined from 2007 through 2014 (4-6). Recent data for 2014-2016, however, indicate that the preterm rate is on the rise again (6). This report describes trends in total, early (less than 34 weeks), and late (34-36 weeks) preterm births by plurality, race and Hispanic origin of the mother, and state of residence during 2014-2016.

[1]  M. Thoma,et al.  Infant Mortality Statistics From the 2013 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. , 2015, National vital statistics reports : from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.

[2]  Assuring Healthy Outcomes,et al.  Preterm Birth : Causes , Consequences , and Prevention , 2005 .

[3]  Joy Lawn,et al.  Born Too Soon: The global epidemiology of 15 million preterm births , 2013, Reproductive Health.

[4]  J. Martin,et al.  Births: Final Data for 2016. , 2018, National vital statistics reports : from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.

[5]  B. Hamilton,et al.  Births : provisional data for 2017 , 2018 .

[6]  J. Martin,et al.  Measuring Gestational Age in Vital Statistics Data: Transitioning to the Obstetric Estimate. , 2015, National vital statistics reports : from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.

[7]  J. Martin,et al.  Births in the United States, 2016. , 2017, NCHS data brief.