Infertility In Pre-term Women

New Research Shows That Prematurity Can Cause Fertility Problems

Apr 8, 2008 Joanna Karpasea-Jones

People who are born early can have problems having their own families.

The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 26 2008 edition, has published new research which shows that men and women who were born pre-term can have significantly lower fertility rates than those born at term and that children born to pre-term women have a higher risk of prematurity than children born to term parents.

The study involved more than one million people who were born between 22 and 37 weeks gestation between the years of 1967 and 1988 and was conducted by Duke University and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Births and deaths data was analysed to find out numbers of pre-term infants, the effect on reproduction and the long term survival rates of those pre-term infants.

Results of the study found that:

Baby boys born between 22 and 27 weeks gestation had a higher rate of childhood death
The lower a person's gestational age, the poorer their education was
Women who were born premature were more likely to have premature babies themselves
Women who were born premature were more likely to have a stillbirth
Women who were born premature were more likely to have a baby die in infancy
Both men and women who were born prematurely have a lower reproduction rate than those born at term and more chance of fertility problems
Fertility rates of pre-term people increased according to the gestational age, so if a person is born at 30 weeks, she has a higher reproductive rate than a person born at 24 weeks.

The general health of the person was also affected by whether they were pre-term, and by how many weeks, and the gestational age has been shown to be a stronger indicator of future health than the birth weight of the person.

Lead author of the study, Geeta Swamy, MD, of Duke University, said:

'The earlier you're born, the higher the risks. Those who were born extremely prematurely are more likely to have complications throughout their lives.'

I was born prematurely. Will My Fertility Be Affected?

Statistically there is a slightly higher chance that an adult born prematurely will have problems having a baby, but many prematurely born people have no problems having a family at all. Take extra care of yourself with vitamin supplementation as a permanent regime instead of just for pre-conceptual care and if you have been trying for a baby for 12 months or longer with no success, see your health care provider to discuss what investigations can be done for you.

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