Today we bring you great news within bad news. The bad news is that the number of babies born premature is still very high (1 in 10 babies born today in the world do so early), and within that large number of premature babies, there are a few that are born too soon, which we call premature extremes, to reach the world between week 22 and 28, when a term pregnancy is one that has 40 weeks of gestation.
The good news is that attention to these babies and medical progress is helping that, despite everything, increasingly premature extremes get ahead. If we add to this that they are usually very fighting babies (or so we like to believe, that within their fragility they are so strong as to try to survive), hope grows, while work continues to try to reduce the number of premature births through other parallel investigations.
Increasing survival and fewer complications
To give this good news, a study has been carried out in the USA, where more than 34,600 stories of babies born between the 22nd and 28th week between 1993 and 2012. have been reviewed. When assessing survival rates, it was found that with the over the years, in those 19 years, it was passed from 27% to 33% in babies born at 23 weeks and of 63% to 65% in those born at 24 weeks. If the babies were born at 25 or 27 weeks the increase was somewhat less pronounced, and as a curious fact, comment that no change was seen when the babies were born at weeks 22, 26 and 28.
In addition to survival, they assessed survival rates without major complications, that is, children who remained alive without relatively serious sequelae, which has increased 2% every year that has happened in babies born between weeks 25 to 28 (2% per year gives us a percentage of 38%, which is an excellent improvement).
These advances have been produced by changing the protocols for action and improving attention. On the one hand, the use of steroids (cortisone) in women before giving birth has become extensive in most cases and this helps the lungs mature a little more before birth and give them a push to get ahead. On the other, the number of intubated babies has been reduced as soon as they are born, and this seems to generate fewer final complications. Further, the number of infections at birth has decreased, which are a risk factor for neonatal sepsis and can end up being fatal.
In the words of Dr. Barbara Stoll, author of the study:
Our analysis shows that survival levels of extremely premature babies and survival levels without major health problems have improved over 20 years ... One of our most important findings is the significant increase in the level of survival without problems of Important neonatal health in babies born between 25 and 28 weeks. Still, we must focus on reducing the high rates of premature births, since approximately 450,000 babies are born prematurely each year in the United States.
And that is the idea, that progress is being made in trying to prevent premature births, because although they have a better prognosis, survival rates are still low, many complications, and expenses for very high health systems. For the good of all, but especially of babies and their families, We must continue research to avoid such a high number of premature babies.
And in the meantime, obviously, to continue advancing in the techniques and interventions to improve the quality of some babies that simply arrived when they did not have to be born, and who deserve to receive all the attention to also have their own opportunity in this world.
