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New Computer Program To Predict Premature Birth

September 8th 2008 01:00
Category: Health
Premature baby


In a world first, Australian scientists have developed a computer program using the same technology used to assess the risk of cyclones and nuclear accidents to accurately detect premature births before they occur.

This ground breaking computer program boasts a stunning 92% success rate of picking women likely to go into early labour identifying patterns in blood hormone levels which can indicate a pregnancy heading for premature birth.


This is especially helpful for doctors with perinatal records showing about 17,000 babies are born prematurely in Australia each year, and on top of that, premature births account for 70% of new-born baby deaths and 50% of cerebral palsy cases.

Director of the Mothers and Babies Research Centre at the University of Newcastle, Prof. Roger Smith said that this knowledge could help doctors cut the number of early births by 50%.

Thanks to a grant from the Australian Research Council, the computer program will undergo three more years of fine-tuning with the aim of making this technology widely available across the country in 2011-12.





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Comments
2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Sara Dobson

September 8th 2008 01:23
My daughter was born at 31 weeks, and although I suppose I was at risk due ot my age the pregnancy was normal until I just went into labour.
She may have been shorter than the one pictured but she certainly had more fat on her.

Something like this would be fantastic, if I had known that I was at risk I may have rested more.

Comment by Arnold

September 9th 2008 05:32
Definitely -- having a premature baby is tough for all involved and this new program could change that.

Thanks for stopping by Sara -- I hope your daughter has grown to be a healthy girl

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