Prematurity

• Full term pregnancy: 41 weeks of amenorrhea (9 months)
• Prematurity: birth before 37 weeks of amenorrhea (before 8 months)
• Average prematurity : birth between 33 and 37 weeks of amenorrhea (between 7 and 8 months)
• Extreme prematurity : birth between 28 and 33 weeks of amenorrhea (before 7 months)

A national public health priority

A little more than 6% of the 830 000 births annually in France are premature births. This represents 50 000 births.
In spite of the improvement in care in France in recent years, prematurity remains a very worrying problem, and the incidence has increased by 15% in the last 10 years.

3 factors account for this increase :

Late pregnancy; the high rate of multiple pregnancies; deliveries carried out before term to protect the health of both mother and baby.

The consequences of premature birth

Prematurity, and particularly extreme prematurity, is a cause of infant mortality, as more than 2000 of the 'extremely premature' babies born in France every year die.

Prematurity has certain consequences that last throughout life: 10% of the extremely premature suffer motor deficiency at the age of 5 years and 12% have intellectual deficiencies at the same age.

The most vulnerable organs of a premature newborn are the lungs and the brain.