Maternal Asthma Tied to Prematurity, Lower Weight

A new study from the University of Manitoba has linked maternal asthma with an increased risk of delivering a baby prematurely as well as having a low-birthweight baby. Examining data on all 13,980 babies born in Manitoba in 1995, researchers categorized the infants according to their length of pregnancy and weight at birth. Next, investigators analyzed whether mothers had been diagnosed with asthma in the five years preceding delivery. Overall, 10.4% of mothers had asthma, 6.3% of babies were born prior to 37 weeks gestation, while 4.9% were born weighing less than 5.5lbs. Compared to non-asthmatic mothers, those with asthma were 2.77 times more likely to give birth prior to 28 weeks of pregnancy and 3.04 times more likely to give birth prior to 32 weeks of pregnancy. An asthmatic mother's risk of delivering a low-birthweight baby was more than threefold compared to non-asthmatic mothers. Researchers recommended that health care professionals properly assess asthma in a woman when determining her risk of delivering prematurely.
Source: Megan Rauscher, Reuters

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