Oregon Public Broadcasting

Preterm birth rates in Oregon are the second lowest in the nation, according to a report released today by the March of Dimes.

Report card from the March of Dimes website detailing Oregon's pre-term birth rates.

The preterm birth rate in Oregon is 9.8 percent. That's second only to Vermont's rate of 9.5 percent. Michelle Larsen is the State Director of Communications for the March of Dimes Oregon Chapter and says several things can be done to make sure that babies are born at full term.

"We need to continue to reduce late preterm births, anything that's medically unnecessary before 39 weeks can cause problem for infants. We need to continue to help women to stop smoking and we need to work on getting health insurance to more women of childbearing age," Larsen said.

Late preterm births are those between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation. The rate of those births in Oregon has dropped slightly. The rate of women smoking while pregnant is also down -- almost five percentage points. But the rate of uninsured women increased slightly.

Oregon received a "B" on its March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card. That's higher than the nation's overall score of "C."

On the Web

March of Dimes Oregon

http://www.marchofdimes.com/oregon/oregon.asp

March of Dimes

http://www.marchofdimes.com/

Report Card

http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/prematurity_reportcard.html