Women may want to take more time between pregnancies, as new
research suggests those who have short intervals between their
pregnancies are more likely to experience a decrease in the length of
the following one, even putting babies at risk of preterm birth in some
cases.
The research, which used birth records from the Ohio Department of Health, is published in the journal
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
preterm birth is defined as one that lasts less than 37 weeks. Because
important growth and development occurs throughout pregnancy,
particularly in the final weeks, some premature babies may face lifelong
problems, including intellectual disabilities,
cerebral palsy, breathing and respiratory problems, visual problems,
hearing loss, and feeding and digestive problems.
To further investigate how a short inter-pregnancy interval (IPI) might
affect pregnancy duration, the researchers analyzed 454,716 live births
from women with two or more pregnancies during a 6-year period and
assessed the influence of short IPI on length of the following
pregnancy.
For the study, IPI was defined as the time from the immediate preceding birth to conception of the next pregnancy.
Women with shorter IPIs gave birth earlier
The women were separated into two groups: those with IPIs less than 12
months and those with IPIs between 12-18 months. The team then compared
these groups with women who had an "optimal IPI" of 18 months or more.
Women with an optimal IPI over 18 months were less likely to give birth before 39 weeks, compared with women with shorter IPIs.
The researchers found that, overall, women with shorter IPIs
were more likely to give birth before 39 weeks of pregnancy, compared
with women who had an optimal IPI over 18 months.
In detail, of the women with an IPI less than 12 months, 53.3% delivered
before 39 weeks, whereas only 37.5% of women with an optimal IPI did
so.
Additionally, pregnancies that lasted more than 40 weeks occurred less
frequently in women with a short IPI of less than 12 months (16.9%),
compared with women with a normal IPI (23.1%).
Regarding preterm births - those less than 37 weeks long - the rate was
higher in women whose IPI was less than 12 months. Compared with women
who had an optimal IPI, these women were more than twice as likely to
give birth to a preterm baby.
Commenting on their findings, co-author Emily DeFranco, assistant
professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio
and the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center, says:
"Short inter-pregnancy interval is a known risk factor for preterm
birth, however, this new research shows that inadequate birth spacing is
associated with shorter overall pregnancy duration.
This study has potential clinical impact on reducing the overall rate of
preterm birth across the world through counselling women on the
importance of adequate birth spacing, especially focusing on women known
to be at inherently high risk for preterm birth."
'Women should be advised on importance of optimal birth spacing'
As part of the study, the researchers also analyzed differences in
racial groups and found that black mothers tended to have shorter IPIs,
compared with non-black mothers.
And the rate of preterm births was also higher in black mothers who had a
short IPI less than 12 months, compared with non-black mothers, at
26.4% versus 8.7%, respectively.
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