What is prematurity?
Prematurity is the term used to describe all babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. In the UK, a baby is generally considered viable if it is born at 24 weeks, yet their chances of survival is only 50%.
Babies who are born too soon face many challenges. Their internal organs still need to grow and develop, so they need specialist care in a special or intensive neo-natal care unit. The earlier a baby is born the more likely their organs will suffer damage or not develop as they should because they are less mature.
Each day in the womb is essential to a baby’s healthy development and survival. For example, in the UK, babies born at 23 weeks have a 92% chance of experiencing a disability. If that baby can stay in the womb an extra three weeks and be born at 26 weeks, the chance of having a disability reduces to 41%.
More information
- The World Health Organisation publishes a fact-sheet on preterm birth.
- Born Too Soon is a Global Action Report on Preterm Birth [WHO 2012]
- The Health Economics Research Centre (HERC) established by Oxford University conducted a study on the long-term economic costs of preterm birth in 2006-07, the last time a study of this scale was conducted in the UK.
- EPICure is a series of studies of survival and later health among babies and young people who were born at extremely low gestations – between 22 and 26 weeks.