Very premature baby survival not improving
2008-05-09 (Reuters Health)
By Tim Castle
LONDON (Reuters) - There has been no improvement in the survival rate of
babies born before Britain's 24-week legal limit for abortion, doctors
said
on Friday, ahead of an expected attempt by pro-life legislators to reduce
the cut-off period.
A study of 650,000 births between 1994 and 2005 in the Midlands showed
clear
improvements in survival rates for infants born after 24 and 25 weeks'
gestation.
But the research, published in the British Medical Journal, found survival
rates for babies born at 22 and 23 weeks had not changed during the 12
years
covered.
David Field, professor of neonatal medicine at Leicester University and
lead
author of the study, said medical advances that had aided older babies had
failed to assist the younger ones.
"Doing exactly the same thing for these more immature babies doesn't seem
to
have made any difference at all," he said.
"It's as if there is some maturity effect that kicks in around 23 and 24
weeks."
The study was based on records of births in the former Trent health
region,
covering Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
In the 12 years to 2005, all 150 infants born alive at 22 weeks eventually
died.
Pro-life MPs are expected to submit amendments to the Human Fertilisation
and Embryology Bill on Monday calling for reductions in the 24-week
abortion
limit on the grounds that a greater number of very immature babies now
survive.
But Field said such claims were distorted by taking data from specialist
neonatal hospitals which tended to over estimate the likelihood of
survival.
"One of the reasons we produced this paper is we felt there had been some
misinformation about the situation," he said.
"If you report data from a single unit, or two or three particular
hospitals, you can get rather spurious results."
Last October, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said
there was no scientific basis for lowering the limit for legal abortions.
MPs are traditionally given a free vote on abortion matters in the House
of
Commons, and reduced the limit to 24 weeks from 28 weeks in 1990.
Conservative Leader David Cameron has said he would support a further
reduction, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman has said the
premier would not vote for a change.
The government has said it has no plans to alter the existing limit.
--
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