Higher number of premature babies has doctors scrambling for answers

May 14, 2012, Chillicothe Gazette

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Fertility drugs and procedures have caused more babies to be born prematurely in recent years, experts say.

Other factors are in play, too -- ones that doctors are struggling to define and prove.

In 2011, 12 percent of babies were born premature, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.
Although down slightly from 2010, the number has increased from 9 percent in 1990.

Mark Klebanoff, director of the Ohio Perinatal Research Network at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, said it's a reason for concern because other developed countries have a much lower rate of premature births.

Read more in the Chillicothe Gazette.