premature birth

(noun)

childbirth occurring earlier than 37 completed weeks of gestation, but later than the 20th week, which is regarded as a miscarriage.

Related Terms

Examples of premature birth in the following topics:

  • Premature Infants

    • In humans, preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age.
    • Premature birth, commonly used as a synonym for preterm birth, refers to the birth of a baby before the developing organs are mature enough to allow normal postnatal survival .
    • Significant progress has been made in the care of premature infants, but not in reducing the prevalence of preterm birth.
    • Therefore, a significant overlap exists between preterm birth and prematurity.
    • Prematurity can be reduced to a small extent by using drugs to accelerate maturation of the fetus, and to a greater extent by preventing preterm birth.

  • Alveoli

    • Surfactant is first produced by human lungs between 24 and 28 weeks in the womb, and many infants born prematurely do not have enough surfactant to breathe on their own after birth.
    • Surfactant replacement therapy is necessary to save the lives of these premature births.

  • Jaundice

    • This condition is often seen in infants around the second day after birth, lasting until day 8 in normal births, or to around day 14 in premature births.

  • Prenatal Diagnostic Tests

    • For example, Down Syndrome is associated with cardiac defects that may need intervention immediately upon birth.
    • Fetal screening has also been done to determine characteristics generally not considered birth defects, for example determining the sex of the offspring.
    • Screening tests yield a risk score which represents the chance that the baby has the birth defect. the most common threshold for high-risk is 1:270.
    • However, the trade-off between risk of birth defect and risk of complications from invasive testing is relative and subjective.
    • 2) Women who have previously had premature babies or babies with a birth defect

  • Adjustments of the Infant at Birth

    • Post birth, an infant's physiology must adapt to breathing independently, changes in blood flow and energy access, and a cold environment.
    • At birth, the baby's lungs are filled with fetal lung fluid (which is not amniotic fluid) and are not inflated.
    • Following birth, the expression and re-uptake of surfactant, which begins production at 20 weeks gestation, is accelerated.
    • Pharmacological therapy, such as caffeine, can also be given to treat apnea in premature newborns.
    • The newborn's capacity to maintain these mechanisms is limited, especially in premature infants.

  • Premature Ejaculation

    • Premature ejaculation is also known as rapid ejaculation, rapid climax, premature climax, or early ejaculation.
    • Premature ejaculation can be differentiated between two types.
    • Premature ejaculation can be further divided between global premature ejaculation, which occurs with all partners and in all contexts, and situational premature ejaculation, which occurs in certain situations or with specific partners.
    • Psychological factors commonly contribute to premature ejaculation.
    • Premature ejaculation can be differentiated between two types.

  • Administering Hormones

    • Hormone replacement therapy for menopause is based on the idea that the treatment may prevent discomfort caused by diminished circulating oestrogen and progesterone hormones, or in the case of the surgically or prematurely menopausal, that it may prolong life and may reduce incidence of dementia It involves the use of one or more of a group of medications designed to artificially boost hormone levels.
    • Some intersex people also receive HRT, either starting in childhood to confirm the gender they were assigned at birth, or later in order to change the gender they were assigned at birth.

  • Cryptorchidism

    • Cryptorchidism is a condition present at birth in boys where one or more of the testes is absent from the scrotum.
    • It is the most common birth defect regarding male genitalia.
    • About 3% of full-term and 30% of premature infant boys are born with at least one undescended testis.
    • In most full-term infant boys with cryptorchidism but no other genital abnormalities, a cause cannot be found, making this a common, sporadic, unexplained (idiopathic) birth defect.

  • Abortion

    • An abortion is medically referred to as a therapeutic abortion when it is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman, prevent harm to the woman's physical or mental health, when a child will have a significantly increased chance of premature morbidity or mortality or be otherwise disabled, or to selectively reduce the number of fetuses to lessen health risks associated with multiple pregnancy.
    • Premature labor and delivery can be induced with prostaglandin; this can be coupled with injecting the amniotic fluid with hypertonic solutions containing saline or urea.
    • IDX is sometimes called "partial-birth abortion," which has been federally banned in the United States.
    • In the U.S., the risk of maternal death from abortion from 1998 to 2005 was 0.6 per 100,000 procedures, making abortion about 14 times safer than childbirth (8.8 deaths per 100,000 live births).

  • Cystic Fibrosis

    • CF is most common among caucasians and can be diagnosed before birth by genetic testing, or by a sweat test in early childhood.
    • About 10% of CF cases result from a premature stop codon in the DNA, leading to early termination of protein synthesis and truncated proteins.
    • One approach to combating a faulty receptor is to develop drugs that get the ribosome to overcome this premature stop codon and synthesize a full-length CFTR protein.