Why Are African-American Women Twice As Likely to Have a Premature Baby?
NEW YORK CITY, OCT. 22, 2004 No one knows why African-American women go into labor three or more weeks early, more often than babies of any other race or ethnicity, according to the March of Dimes. “This is not only a socio-economic problem; a woman can do everything right and still have a premature child,” said Dr. Diane Ashton, associate medical director, March of Dimes. “We need to find out why this happens and what we can do to ensure that African-American babies are carried full-term and born healthy. Dr. Ashton made her remarks at a media roundtable discussion on Friday afternoon at the W Hotel in New York City. About 100,000 African-American newborns in the U.S. are affected each year by this common, costly and serious problem, according to Dr. Ashton, and many of these babies suffer life-long health consequences, from mental retardation and cerebral palsy to lung, auditory and sight problems. In some cases, the baby does not survive. In her presentation, Dr. Ashton said there
