Premature Delivery and Subsequent Reproduction

ABSTRACT

To examine the relationship between premature delivery and subsequent reproductive behavior, we attempted to trace 100 mothers four years after the birth of a surviving preterm or term infant. Seventy mothers were successfully traced. Maternal age, ethinicity, gravidity, parity, religion, and socioeconomic status, and the sex, birthweight, gestational age, mode of delivery, and hospital days of the index infant were jointly related to three outcome measures: occurrence of subsequent pregnancy, and, among those who again became pregnant, pregnancy interval and number of subsequent children. Among women who had one or more subsequent births during the follow-up period, those whose index infants were of lower gestational age had fewer subsequent births (r = 0.602, df = 32, p < 0.011). No other variables, including cesarean birth, were significantly related to later reproductive behavior. These findings indicate that the birth of a premature infant may have a significant effect of decreasing or delaying subsequent reproduction. Though confirmatory studies are needed, awareness of this relationship may help obstetric perinatologists and neonatologists sensitively discuss plans for contraception and further childbearing with women who have experienced the stress of the birth of a premature infant.