Massachusetts earned a ‘B’ for its preterm birth rates
The Massachusetts preterm birth rate is 8.6 percent, which is below the national average of 9.6 percent.
Massachusetts scored a ‘B’ in the March of Dimes’ eighth annual Premature Birth Report Card, according to The Boston Globe.
Preterm birth, the main contributor of death in babies less than a year old and the leading cause of long-term disabilities in children, is a birth that happens by 37 weeks of gestation, reports the Globe. The national premature birth rate is 9.6 percent. In 2014, the rate in Massachusetts was 8.6 percent, down from 8.8 percent in 2013, reports the Globe.
“Massachusetts is doing well relative to other states, but a preterm birth rate of 8.6 percent is still too high, especially when compared to other countries,’’ Michael House, a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Tufts Medical Center, told the Globe.
Read the full story in the Globe.
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