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Early birth and health....what about the obvious?

I meant to blog about this last week, but didn't get round to it.   There were lots of new stories a couple of  weeks ago that  babies born even a couple of weeks early have more health problems.

Babies born a few weeks early 'suffer health risks'

Babies born just a few weeks early have a higher risk of poor health, including asthma, than those born later, research suggests.

I think they missed a big confounding factor in this analysis - caesarian birth.    Lots of those early births are due to C sections and that brings us back to microbiota.  Babies born by C section miss out on being exposed to a bunch of healthy bacteria from the birth canal......maybe that is causing the health problems?

Babies delivered via cesarean section show different microbial profiles than those born vaginally—whereas vaginally delivered infants are colonized at first by fecal and vaginal bacteria from the mother, infants born through cesarean section are exposed initially to bacteria originating from the hospital environment and health care workers. 
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Anonymous said…
Interesting theory, but my daughter was born very early (27 1/2 weeks) through a vaginal birth. Issues with the early birth caused very slight cerebral palsy, but for the most part she is healthy except for the one specific indicator pointed out in your article summary: She has asthma.

My own birth was normal and natural, yet despite my being very fit and healthy I suffer from two gastro-intestinal disorders.

My son, on the other hand, was born via C-section on his due-date and has been one of the healthiest kids I have seen over the years.

Over-generalization and sensationalization are not distant relatives and this article is poking the boundary between them.
March 13, 2012 at 2:42 AM
RamanMaan said…
The early birth of babies is common problem these days. As their parts are not properly developed so tjhey have to face difficulties in surviving. They need to kept under special machines to generate their parts properly. Their whole life is full of survival problems. Like elderly care, they also have to provide special care.
March 13, 2012 at 5:36 AM
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