Research push to seek causes of premature birth

The March of Dimes Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania announced a joint research effort Monday to find some of the causes of premature birth, in the hope that doctors can prevent more infants from being born early.

Premature birth is the leading cause of death among newborns, and can also cause lifelong health issues, such as respiratory or organ problems, cerebral palsy, infections, developmental or learning disabilities, and behavioral problems.

One in nine U.S. babies is born prematurely - before 37 weeks; in Philadelphia the figure is one in eight. For nearly half of those babies, doctors don't know why.

The rate of premature birth in the United States has fallen since 2006, reaching 11.4 percent in 2013. The March of Dimes said its goal is to cut that in half by 2030.

In some cases, pregnant women are prescribed the hormone progesterone to help ensure that they carry their child to term, but it is not known why the treatment works or when it will, said Deborah Driscoll, obstetrics and gynecology department chair at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and primary investigator for the new center.

The Intensive Care Nursery at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania fills almost daily with premature babies, Driscoll said. The unit holds up to 38 infants, she said.

Penn researchers will be split into three teams, each trying to find how and why one factor can contribute to early birth. They will look at mitochondrial DNA and function abnormalities as well as issues with readjustment of the cervix and the placenta during pregnancy.

The research will be carried out by Penn and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, along with two researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center and University of Pittsburgh Magee-Women's Research Institute.

The new efforts are funded by $10 million over the next five years from the March of Dimes, with matching funds from Penn and Children's and some National Institutes of Health funding.