Report Card: Louisiana premature births rate an F

Louisiana ranks 49th in the nation in the first Premature Birth Report Card compiled by the March of Dimes.
People like Jamie Owen Crain and Lydia D. Cavaness are working hard to improve that dismal statistic.
Crain, community director, and Caveness, division director for the Acadiana Division of the March of Dimes talked to the Eunice Kiwanis Club last week about their organizations objective and how Kiwanians, and others, can help.
The March of Dimes’ objective is to do to premature births what it did to polio - essentially eradicate it.
“Premature birth is the leading cause of mortality among new borns,” Crain noted.
The next significant event scheduled by the organization in this area is the March of Dimes March for Babies, which will be held April 11, 2009, in the Opelousas City Park.
Caveness urged Kiwanis Club members to get involved in that March, as Kiwanians, with their families or as individuals or businesses.
“It’s a great, worthwhile cause and the walking is good for you,” Crain noted.
The fight to change the status quo is an uphill one. According to the report card, the premature birth rate in Louisiana is 16.5 percent. That compares to the national Healthy People 2010 objective of 7.6 percent of all live births. The national preterm birth rate currently is 12.7 percent.
Crain pointed out that there is no single factor that gives Louisiana such a high rate.
The Report Card does note, however, that in Louisiana 25.6 of childbearing-age women are uninsured, 21.6 percent smoke and about 1 in 10 pregnant women has a late pre-term birth (Cesarian-section or induced labor).
Why the concern about premature births?
Babies who survive a premature birth face the risk of serious life-long health problems including learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing loss, and other chronic conditions including asthma, according to the March of Dimes.
Even infants born just a few weeks too soon have a greater risk of breathing problems, feeding difficulties, hypothermia (temperature instability), jaundice and delayed brain development.
Information about the March for Babies: 233-8476.