Colorado receives “D” on Premature Birth Report Card for the second consecutive year

For the second consecutive year, Colorado received a “D” on the Premature Birth Report Card issued by the March of Dimes. However, the state did show improvement in two key areas that affect prematurity, including the rate of smoking for childbearing-age women.

Most recent data shows Colorado’s premature birth rate as 12.2%, a slight improvement over the rate reported in 2008’s report card (12.3%) but not enough of one to change the overall grade. This equates to one in eight babies, or more than 8,500. A baby is considered premature when he is born three or more weeks early. A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks.

Report card grades are determined by comparing statistics to the Healthy People 2010 premature birth rate goal of 7.6%. The United States (with a most-recent premature birth rate of 12.7%) received a "D" on the March of Dimes report card. No state earned an “A.” Just one (Vermont) received a “B.” Twelve received a “C”; 20 a “D”; and, 19 an “F.” (The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are included in the evaluation.)

Three preventable criteria that contribute to premature birth are noted on the report card: rates of uninsured women (reported at 21% in both years), women who smoke and late premature birth. The latter (when a baby is born between 34 and 36 weeks of pregnancy) dropped in Colorado to 8.8% from the 8.9% reported last year. The rate of childbearing-age women who smoke saw the biggest decline, from 19.8% in the 2008 report card to 17.4% this year.

“A decline like this shows that, when we apply the resources, we can help Colorado women be healthier and improve the chances their babies will be, too,” said Chris Carey, M.D., March of Dimes volunteer medical-expert spokesperson and director of obstetrics and gynecology at Denver Health. As examples, Carey pointed to smoking cessation programs run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and those funded by the March of Dimes in Western Colorado at Hilltop Community Resources and the Mesa County Health Department, and in Colorado Springs at Peak Vista. “But pressing for even more resources and heightened awareness continues to be a top priority for the March of Dimes and others who are concerned about the status of mom/baby health in Colorado.”

Today’s announcement coincides with the seventh annual national Prematurity Awareness Day, a special initiative of the March of Dimes. Today and all throughout November, the nonprofit health organization seeks to draw attention to the seriousness of premature birth, which has been called the biggest threat to a baby’s health. More than 540,000 babies in the U.S. are born too soon each year. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and babies who survive often face the risk of lifelong health challenges. The dollar cost of premature birth exceeds $26 billion annually, according to the Institute of Medicine. A March of Dimes report released in October found that, in an average year, 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely; of these, one million die.

All this month, Coloradans are encouraged to visit marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies to learn more, sign up to be part of an advocacy network and honor babies and children special to them. Visitors to the website can also download a copy of the Premature Birth Report Card and get additional information about how grades were determined. Special activities during the month to mark prematurity awareness include the lighting of a pink-and-blue cause ribbon on the exterior of Denver’s Pepsi Center and education sessions for nurses who take care of premature babies at the Children’s Hospital and University Hospital.

Data for the 2009 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card is the most recent available (2007 preliminary) and comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data used in the 2008 report card came from the same source and was the most recent available at that time (2005).