Statistics on survival rates of premature babies [Archive]

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Cecil

15th February 2006, 09:35 PM

I'm looking for some pretty specific information and I'm not having any luck with google.

Basically I'm trying to find statistics on survival rates of premature babies, broken down by length of gestation (to the nearest week would be ideal). Recent stats are pretty easy to find, but what I need is data going back as far as possible (preferably at least 50 years). I've tried looking for it on government stats pages, but they aren't detailed enough.

There are enough studies out there that I could probably just look one up for every year, but I'm hoping someone can point out where I can find all the stats in one handy-dandy chart.

Hydrogen Cyanide

15th February 2006, 11:18 PM

Have you tried www.pubmed.gov (http://www.pubmed.gov)? I plugged in the search terms "premature survival" and got 301 pages of sites (the 301st page is from the 1950's).

Seriously, I don't think you are going to get the statistics if there were not people looking for them. Some of the premie deaths would have been lumped into the fairly common infant mortality deaths of the mid-twentied century. Also... many kids were actually born at home and if they did or did not survive the details would not have been tabulated.

These are my anecdotes:

1) I had an aunt (by marriage) who was born very premature. The family story is that she was kept behind the wood stove to keep her warm. She lived to be over 80 and died about 10 years ago.

2) I had a college friend who was born premature over 50 years ago. Since it was common practice to put premies in very oxygenated environments their eyes were often damaged. Fortunately, only one eye was blinded... the other eye was blinded when it was kicked in during his time at an orphanage.

3) My sister was born almost 2 months premature in the early 1960's. Since the Army hospital did not have the facilities to put her in an oxynated environment... her sight was spared. It turns out that she could not digest milk... she simply was lactose intolerant. So we learned early about food intolerances. She survived (and grew tall and beautiful). It also turned out that she very seldom suffered through many diseases. Once upon a time when I and a step-sister suffered through three weeks of a most horrible flu, our premie sister walzed through without a trace of problem. It seems that she inherited an iron-clad constitution that helped her survive being premature.

Deetee

16th February 2006, 03:53 AM

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=28258
This gives tables, but some found these hard to understand (comment http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1117667)
The references have pubmed links - you may find other useful stuff.

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1315360 - possibly not that helpful.

Try searches with the word "preterm" rather than "premature".

Nancarrow

16th February 2006, 06:01 AM

I was premature by 10 weeks and I'm still here!

(Well hey, it's a statistic)

(ok so it's just a data point)

Marc L

16th February 2006, 07:12 AM

I wish I had the statistics. I do know that Balboa Naval Medical Hospital claims a good survival rate of preemies that have been in the womb at least 29 weeks. My own daughter was a 31 week preemie, and, except for a small virus right now, she's doing just fine.

Marc

Deetee

16th February 2006, 07:22 AM

I was premature by 10 weeks and I'm still here!

(Well hey, it's a statistic)

(ok so it's just a data point)

Nah.... its just an anecdote.;)

Hydrogen Cyanide

16th February 2006, 09:28 AM

... (http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=28258)Try searches with the word "preterm" rather than "premature".

Yeah, pull the "doctor" talk gambit... :p Thanks!

Sometimes I still refer to my sister as "premature" in more ways than one! Age does not cure sibling conflicts.

Cecil

16th February 2006, 12:04 PM