Premature births linked to short mothers: New Zealand-Swedish study

Short mothers are twice as likely to give birth to a premature baby as tall mothers, according to a joint New Zealand-Swedish study out Friday.

The odds of having a premature baby rose as the mother's height decreased, said a statement from the University of Auckland.

Among mothers up to 155 cm tall, 9.4 percent of babies were born premature (less than 37 weeks of gestation), and 1.1 percent were very premature (less than 32 weeks of gestation).

For tall mothers of at least 179 cm, these figures were 4.7 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

The researchers examined data collected between 1991 and 2009 on more than 192,000 Swedish women aged over 18 years.

Premature birth was a major case of newborn death worldwide, and was linked to serious health problems in the short and long terms.

In 2014 in New Zealand, 4,421 (7.4 percent) of babies were born premature, including 748 (1.3 percent) at less than 32 weeks of gestation.

"Researchers don't know exactly what's behind this association between the mothers' height and spontaneous premature birth," study leader Dr Jose Derraik said in the statement.

"But evidence from other studies suggests it could be anatomical constraints. Short mothers tend to have less space for the babies to grow before birth, and this seems to lead to premature delivery in some women," he said.

"Based on the mounting evidence, maternal height is one of the factors that needs to be considered when evaluating a woman's risk of delivering a premature baby." Endit