Premature Births in U.S. Set Record High in 2003
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From Times Staff and Wire Reports
More than 12% of U.S. babies were born prematurely in 2003, a record high, as women delayed motherhood and doctors took steps such as inducing labor in some older women, the National Center for Health Statistics said.
The teenage birthrate, meanwhile, continued to decline to 41.6 births per 1,000 females 15 to 19 years old, a decline of 3%.
About 499,000 infants in 2003 were born after fewer than 37 weeks’ gestation. Experts are concerned, said Jennifer Howse, president of the March of Dimes, because “prematurity is the No. 1 killer of newborns.”
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