While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from February 2016: A study finds the odds of preterm birth were lower among Colorado women living in counties served by Title X clinics, which began offering free access to IUDs and contraceptive implants in 2009.
In debates over air pollution control, it’s always a tug-of-war between the cost to business and the cost to public health. Late last month, a study emerged with new data for the public health column: the cost of the nation’s nearly 16,000 annual preterm births linked to air pollution is more than a whopping $5 billion.
A study finds the odds of preterm birth were lower among Colorado women living in counties served by Title X clinics, which began offering free access to IUDs and contraceptive implants in 2009.
Each year, the U.S. spends $26.2 billion on costs associated with preterm birth — that’s birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Beyond the costs, babies born too early experience immediate and long-term problems, from developmental disabilities to asthma to hearing loss. For years, scientists have been studying possible environmental contributors, with many finding an association between preterm birth and air pollution. Earlier this week, a new study brought even more depth and clarity to this connection.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about preterm birth and we know even less about the disparities in those births.” Those are words from Ondine von Ehrenstein, who recently examined the links between occupational exposures and preterm birth rates among Hispanic women.