Preterm birth trends in Greece, 1980-2008: a rising concern

Abstract

Objective: To identify preterm birth trends in Greece.

Design: Retrospective epidemiological study.

Setting: Women giving birth in Greece from 1980 to 2008.

Population: Live births beyond the 24th gestational week.

Methods: Data acquisition from the Hellenic Vital Statistics records. Statistical analysis of preterm birth rate among neonates estimated for each year.

Main outcome measures: Total number of births and preterm births, as well as rate of preterm birth by gestational week. Stillbirth rates by gestational age.

Results: 3 218 463 births occurred during the period under study, 151 594 (4.7%) of which were preterm. A steep rise in preterm births was noted during the final years of the study, reaching 9.6% in 2008. This was mainly due to the "late preterm" sub-group (34(+0) -36(+6) gestational weeks). The rates of stillbirth fell in a constant way regardless of the maturity index.

Conclusions: Although preterm birth etiology is multifactorial, the selective rise in the "late preterm" group possibly was due to an increase in medical reasons necessitating a preterm delivery, changes in obstetric practice, or both. Further studies are needed to estimate the precise effect of each contributing factor.