Premature births may be more common for mums who have had an STI

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-11-30 03:00

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Women who have had a sexually transmitted infection before or during pregnancy may be more likely to have a preterm birth, according to a US study. Researchers looked at population birth data matched with available data on STIs to see if there was an impact on premature birth rates. Among 14 million births included in the study, eight per cent overall were born premature. The rates were higher for mothers who had an STI before or during pregnancy; 9.9 per cent for chlamydia, 12.2 per cent for gonorrhea and 13.3 per cent for syphilis. This is an observational study which cannot establish whether STIs are the cause of these higher rates, however the researchers say mothers with an STI history could benefit from targeted action to lower the risk of a premature birth.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Nanshan Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen, China

Funder: Dr Ryckman reported submitting a pending patent for serum screening and lipid markers predicting preterm birth. No other disclosures were reported.

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