March of Dimes Launches Parent Support Program; Calls for Concerted National Effort to Fight Prematurity

DALLAS, NOV. 18, 2003—Hospital charges for babies born too soon totaled $13.6 billion in 2001, according to the latest March of Dimes analysis released today at ceremonies marking the first annual Prematurity Awareness Day.

“Premature birth has become the most common, serious and costly problem facing America's infants and is responsible for about half of all infant hospitalization charges,” said March of Dimes president Dr. Jennifer L. Howse. 

“Having a baby too early can cost up to 60 times more than an uncomplicated birth,” she added.  “Today we are asking all Americans to come together to address the crisis of premature birth.” 

The March of Dimes also announced that it would release up to $1.0 million in new funding to ten hospitals to support programs for parents who have a baby in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) -- including Parkland Memorial Hospital here.  Ron Anderson, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Parkland Health & Hospital System, said Parkland delivers 16,000 babies annually, more than any other hospital in the United States and consequently has the highest number of premature births.

“We know how important it is for parents of babies born too early to have immediate access to information and support from other parents who have faced this challenge.  The March of Dimes NICU project is designed to enhance these services,” said Dr. Anderson.

“More than 470,000 mothers deliver early each year,” Dr. Howse said.  “Parents are unexpectedly thrust into an emergency situation, worried for their child's survival, faced with a bewildering array of medical technology, and concerned about life-long health problems their child may face.  Working in partnership with hospital staff, we want to be there for those parents in their time of crisis and help give them the best chance for a successful outcome.”

The March of Dimes called on all Americans to register their concern about premature birth by visiting marchofdimes.com during November. CIGNA, a national sponsor of the Prematurity Campaign, will donate $1.00 for each click.  FedEx and Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute are also national sponsors of the Campaign. 

The Campaign has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.  American Baby magazine and Working Mother Media are national media sponsors.  Over 30 professional and consumer organizations have become Campaign alliance members, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Hospital Association and the American Public Health Association.

To dramatize the how common the problem of prematurity has become, over 100 pregnant March of Dimes volunteers, dressed in the nonprofit's signature “pink and blue” colors, formed a giant “figure 8” this morning on the grounds of Parkland Memorial Hospital.  One out of every eight babies is now born prematurely. 

Last January, the March of Dimes launched a five-year, $75 million campaign to educate women to the signs and symptoms of premature birth, and to raise funds to conduct much needed research.  The goal of the campaign is to reduce the rate of premature birth by 15 percent by 2007.

A multi-center clinical trial whose results were published in the June 12, 2003 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that weekly injections of a derivative of the hormone progesterone substantially reduced the rate of recurrent preterm delivery among women who were at high risk for preterm delivery and also reduced the likelihood of several complications in their infants.  The March of Dimes called this the first clinical research breakthrough in treating preterm labor.

Jay Iams, M.D., of Ohio State University, a co-author of the study and president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, notes that more than half of all women who experience preterm birth do not have any of the known risk factors. “However, for women who have already had one premature baby, we can now encourage progesterone treatment because we have the data to show that it can actually reduce the chance of another preterm birth,” Dr. Iams said.

“In the 1950s, the March of Dimes mounted the concerted national effort that led to the Salk vaccine against polio,” Dr. Howse said.  “Today, we have taken up the challenge to lead, direct and unify the nation's fight against a new problem that puzzles physicians and imperils families – the challenge of prematurity.”

Data on the hospital charges were from the 2001 Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.