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.”