Predicting Premature Delivery — No Easy Task

Abstract

Premature delivery is a leading cause of infant death. Approximately 5000 infants die each year in the United States from complications of prematurity and low birth weight. During the past decade, mechanisms contributing to prematurity have been identified.¹ The observation that several pathways are involved in its pathogenesis may explain why premature delivery has proved so difficult to predict and prevent.Premature activation of the fetal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis may result from maternal psychosocial or fetal physiological stress (for example, when there is insufficient uteroplacental blood flow). This mechanism may account for up to one third of premature births.^1,2 The . . .