Prematurity Prevention

More babies die before their first birthday in the United States than in most other developed countries. Premature birth is to blame, as it is the leading cause of infant death in our country.

Clinicians and scientists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital are spearheading research at the population, clinical and laboratory levels to inform prevention strategies.  

Ohio Perinatal Research Network
The Ohio Perinatal Research Network (OPRN) is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University to fight prematurity through innovation in research.  A major initial effort of OPRN is to establish the Perinatal Research Repository, where clinical data and biospecimens from infants delivered prematurely and mothers and/or fathers will be stored and used in current and future research. More than 5,000 specimens from more than 300 families are already banked in the repository and a sophisticated informatics capability has been developed in support of this effort.

Ohio Better Births Outcomes
Collaborative research programs are key to developing new prevention measures. The Ohio Better Births Outcomes (OBBO) initiative, a collaborative between Nationwide Children’s, central Ohio’s additional three hospital systems, the Columbus Public Health Department and local government and community organizations, is using such research to drive its prematurity prevention projects.  

Projects are based on the scientific findings that progesterone can help prevent recurrent preterm births and that the last few weeks of pregnancy are some of the most important.  Also, pairing a low-income, first-time mother with a nurse can improve neonatal outcomes, and safe spacing of pregnancy is important to help prevent prematurity. 

Faculty Focused on Prematurity Prevention Research

Clinical/Translational Research:

• Mark Klebanoff, MD, MPH (Director, OPRN)
• Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH (Vice President, Community Health and Community Health Service Research)

Latest Findings in Prematurity Prevention Research

In-Utero Exposure Infectious Disease Drug, DDT, Not Linked to Cognitive Impairment in Children
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) continues to be used for control of infectious diseases in several countries. In-utero exposure to DDT and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) has been associated with developmental and cognitive impairment among children. This study did not find any adverse associations between maternal serum DDT and DDE concentrations and offspring neurodevelopment at 8 months or 7 years.

Access an abstract of this study: In-Utero Exposure to Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and Cognitive Development Among Infants and School-aged Children. Epidemiology. 2012 Jul 3. [Epub ahead of print]

Letter to the Editor: Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring and Its Relationship to Neonatal and Infant Mortality in the United States
This letter to the editor expresses opinions about a recently published article suggesting a causal association between electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) and decreased infant mortality.  The letter authors express strong reservations regarding the ability of that paper to offer guidance regarding the effectiveness of EFM because it is inappropriate to use vital statistics data to make the leap from statistical association to causation.

Access an abstract of this letter: Letter to the Editor Regarding “Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring and its relationship to neonatal and infant mortality in the United States.” Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Aug 16. [Epub ahead of print] 

Current Prematurity Prevention Grants

Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children, Youth and Families' and Family and Youth Services Bureau (Independent Evaluator, Jack Stevens, PhD)