Premature Birth Linked to Some Unexpected Later Problems By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
WEDNESDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- Being born prematurely can lead to a host of long-lasting medical complications and may also affect other areas of life, such as education and income, even when no disability is apparent, a new study suggests.
In the July 17 issue of theNew England Journal of Medicine, Norwegian researchers report that babies born prematurely are more likely to have cerebral palsy, mental retardation and to need to receive disability payments.
More surprisingly, the researchers also found that when premature babies grew up, even if they had no identifiable disability, the youngest preemies were less likely to have a high income, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to receive Social Security benefits and less likely to become parents.
"The pessimistic view [of our study] is that we have demonstrated an increased risk for a broad spectrum of medical disabilities due to decreased gestational age, and for those without medical disabilities, a lesser but significant risk for a broad spectrum of social outcomes," said the study's lead author, Dr. Dag Moster, a neonatologist at the Haukeland University Hospital.
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The smallest babies -- those born between 23 and 27 weeks -- who survived with no apparent medical disabilities were also 10 percent less likely to finish high school, 20 percent less likely to have completed college, 20 percent less likely to have a high income, 20 percent more likely to receive Social Security benefits and 20 percent less likely to have become parents than babies born full-term.
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This is not news to me. I've
been knowing this.
But in this case, there is no satisfaction in being right; in having my long-held understanding validated by the medical community.
Some children aren't meant for this world; when we defy nature and force them to stay, there are consequences. Mere survival must be viewed as triumph; our expectations must be adjusted accordingly.
In my family, premature birth is common, and we have a word to describe our premature loved ones: "half-baked".
As in, "What can you expect? He's only half-baked."
This is as good a term as any to describe what's wrong with people who were born too soon, even when nothing is diagnosably medically wrong.
They weren't meant to be. That's what's wrong with them. That they
exist among us when they weren't supposed to is a joy and a triumph, a cause for celebration.
But don't expect much more from them than that.