Causes of premature birth

We call delivery between 28 and 37 weeks of pregnancy premature birth, and premature babies are called premature infants. Although medical technology is very advanced now and the survival rate of premature infants is very high, we still have to find ways to prevent the occurrence of premature birth as much as possible. Only by understanding the causes of premature birth can we effectively prevent the occurrence of premature birth. So what are the causes of premature birth?

There are many reasons that lead to premature birth, and we must pay attention to them. There are five major reasons that lead to premature birth: premature birth has fetal reasons and maternal reasons. Premature birth is related to age, history of miscarriage and living environment.

Five reasons why premature birth occurs

1. Fetal reasons: twins, multiple births, polyhydramnios, fetal malformations, placental abnormalities, such as placenta previa, early placental abruption, placental insufficiency, etc.

2. Maternal reasons: acute infectious diseases, chronic diseases, such as heart, liver, kidney diseases and pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome, uterine malformation, premature rupture of membranes, ascending vaginal infection, antepartum hemorrhage, trauma, diarrhea, cough, etc. Pregnant women with severe anemia may also experience premature birth due to tissue hypoxia and insufficient oxygen supply to the uterus and placenta. Malnutrition among pregnant women, especially insufficient protein and deficiency of vitamin E and folic acid, is also one of the causes of premature birth. In addition, improper sexual life, excessive activity, and lifting heavy objects during pregnancy may also cause premature birth.

3. Age reasons: The premature birth rate of pregnant women under 20 years old or over 35 years old is significantly increased, especially for those under 20 years old, the premature birth rate is 11 times that of the 20-34 age group.

4. Causes of miscarriage history: A history of miscarriage, especially late miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage, artificial abortion, induced abortion, or pregnancy again within less than one year after miscarriage has the greatest impact on pregnant women. Because abortion causes varying degrees of damage to the cervix, it can lead to cervical insufficiency and increase the rate of premature birth.

5. Reasons due to living environment: engaging in physical labor, working too long hours and being too tired can significantly increase the rate of premature birth. Frequent mood swings or excessive mental stress can cause dysfunction of the cerebral cortex, increased catecholamine secretion, sympathetic nerve excitement and vasoconstriction, which can easily lead to premature birth.

Measures to prevent premature birth

When premature birth occurs, many expectant mothers and their families are caught off guard, especially for expectant mothers who have ruled out the possibility of premature birth beforehand. It is more like experiencing a physical and mental torture. In fact, it is not difficult to prevent premature birth. This requires expectant mothers to pay attention to the following in their daily lives:

1. Adjust your emotions and mentality.

The greater the psychological pressure on pregnant women, the higher the incidence of premature birth, especially tension, anxiety and depression are closely related to spontaneous premature birth. Therefore, pregnant women who are nervous, anxious or depressed should actively improve their negative mental state, restore their health and calm their mentality through self-regulation or psychological counseling and consultation.

2. Actively prevent and control infection.

Reproductive tract infection is one of the main factors of premature birth, because when the reproductive tract is infected, bacteria and the toxins they produce can invade the chorioamnion, stimulate the decidual cells to produce cytotoxins and prostaglandins, and cause premature birth. Therefore, in the middle and late stages of pregnancy, pregnant women must strengthen perineal hygiene and actively prevent and treat bacterial vaginitis to prevent chorioamnionitis and intrauterine fetal infection. In addition, sexual intercourse is absolutely prohibited in the late stages of pregnancy, because the prostaglandins in semen will promote uterine contractions after being absorbed through the vagina and may also cause placental abruption.

3. Form a good lifestyle.

Studies have shown that bad habits such as smoking and drinking during pregnancy may cause premature birth, and passive smoking should be avoided.

4. Strengthen health care during pregnancy.

Starting from early pregnancy, regular prenatal checkups should be done to detect problems as early as possible and take appropriate measures. During pregnancy, you need to actively carry out health care and monitoring, detect pregnancy diseases in time and deal with them as early as possible.

Above we introduced what premature birth is. We know that although we can actively treat premature birth and keep the mother safe and the premature baby healthy, we must avoid premature birth if we can. Above we introduced the causes of premature birth. We know that premature birth is related to age, the mother and the fetus, and it is also related to the environment and history of miscarriage.