Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Birth Study

Aired October 30, 2003 - 08:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new study says that women who take longer to conceive run a greater risk of premature delivery and other problems at birth.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from the CNN Center with more.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

This is an interesting story. There's been a lot of studies in the past that have shown that women who actually seek fertility treatments to help them get pregnant have a higher rate of certain problems such as preterm labor and low birth weight.

But this is the first study to look at women who haven't necessarily used any assisted reproductive techniques, but rather just took a long time to get pregnant. Specifically over a year. This was a study of over 56,000 births in Denmark. And what they found was of those 56,000, about 11 percent or so took longer than a year to actually get pregnant. And of those, they had about a 35 percent elevated risk for first-time mothers of premature labor. So the premature labor risk actually goes up if it takes over a year to conceive.

Other things that went up as well were the slightly increased risk for low birth weight and cesarean sections.

Again, Soledad, studies in the past have shown that there may be some problems with women who are older, perhaps having a higher risk of preterm labor. This was a study looking at 56,000 women of all ages, all social classes, smokers and nonsmokers, and this is what they found. Specifically if it took over a year, there were these increased risks -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Premature birth brings with it a host of other problems; it's not just that the baby is low birth weight, there are many, many risks that go hand in hand with that, right?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I should point out,as well, that despite the fact there is an increased risk, the percentages are still small. Even if it takes over a year to get pregnant, you still have about a 7 percent risk of having a premature labor versus a 5 percent risk, numbers like that, but you're absolutely right, if you look at all the neurological problems related to birth, about half of them are related to preterm labor. Take a look at the list of some of the things there, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning problems, breathing problems. Things like that are specifically related to preterm labor about half the time, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So then, Sanjay, then are they working on ways to figure out how they can -- now that they sort of see a link how they can keep women who are taking longer to conceive to actually hold their babies longer so they're not born prematurely?

GUPTA: Yes, you hit the nail on the head here, because for a long time it was just believed that if women have their babies earlier in life, if they're not smokers, if they're doing all the things right during the pregnancy, that perhaps this won't happen. They're finding that this really affected all women, didn't matter how old you were, if you were a smoker, not a smoker, so I think it's going to be just due diligence on the part of doctors and mothers-to-be, as well.

They're going to try and figure out what it is about women who take longer to conceive that's causing those sorts of problems. That data isn't there yet. Right now, the key is to maintain obstetrics appointments early, make sure you're taking the prenatal vitamins and don't drink or smoke during your pregnancy.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 30, 2003 - 08:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new study says that women who take longer to conceive run a greater risk of premature delivery and other problems at birth.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from the CNN Center with more.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

This is an interesting story. There's been a lot of studies in the past that have shown that women who actually seek fertility treatments to help them get pregnant have a higher rate of certain problems such as preterm labor and low birth weight.

But this is the first study to look at women who haven't necessarily used any assisted reproductive techniques, but rather just took a long time to get pregnant. Specifically over a year. This was a study of over 56,000 births in Denmark. And what they found was of those 56,000, about 11 percent or so took longer than a year to actually get pregnant. And of those, they had about a 35 percent elevated risk for first-time mothers of premature labor. So the premature labor risk actually goes up if it takes over a year to conceive.

Other things that went up as well were the slightly increased risk for low birth weight and cesarean sections.

Again, Soledad, studies in the past have shown that there may be some problems with women who are older, perhaps having a higher risk of preterm labor. This was a study looking at 56,000 women of all ages, all social classes, smokers and nonsmokers, and this is what they found. Specifically if it took over a year, there were these increased risks -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Premature birth brings with it a host of other problems; it's not just that the baby is low birth weight, there are many, many risks that go hand in hand with that, right?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I should point out,as well, that despite the fact there is an increased risk, the percentages are still small. Even if it takes over a year to get pregnant, you still have about a 7 percent risk of having a premature labor versus a 5 percent risk, numbers like that, but you're absolutely right, if you look at all the neurological problems related to birth, about half of them are related to preterm labor. Take a look at the list of some of the things there, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning problems, breathing problems. Things like that are specifically related to preterm labor about half the time, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So then, Sanjay, then are they working on ways to figure out how they can -- now that they sort of see a link how they can keep women who are taking longer to conceive to actually hold their babies longer so they're not born prematurely?

GUPTA: Yes, you hit the nail on the head here, because for a long time it was just believed that if women have their babies earlier in life, if they're not smokers, if they're doing all the things right during the pregnancy, that perhaps this won't happen. They're finding that this really affected all women, didn't matter how old you were, if you were a smoker, not a smoker, so I think it's going to be just due diligence on the part of doctors and mothers-to-be, as well.

They're going to try and figure out what it is about women who take longer to conceive that's causing those sorts of problems. That data isn't there yet. Right now, the key is to maintain obstetrics appointments early, make sure you're taking the prenatal vitamins and don't drink or smoke during your pregnancy.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com