Preemies' Problems May Last a Lifetime | Newsweek Health

New Childbirth Technology Tanks
Claudia Kalb 11/22/2006 12:00:00 AM
Science and Your Health
6/14/2005 12:00:00 AM
The Myth of ‘Best In The World’
Sharon Begley
Not to be heartless or anything, but let's leave aside the dead babies. In international comparisons of health care, the infant mortality rate is a crucial indicator of a nation's standing, and the United States' position at No. 28, with seven per 1,000 live births—worse than Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and 23 other nations not exactly known for cutting-edge medical science—is a tragedy and an embarrassment. Much of the blame for this abysmal showing, however, goes to socioeconomic factors: poor, uninsured women failing to get prenatal care or engaging in behaviors (smoking, using illegal drugs, becoming pregnant as a teen) that put fetuses' and babies' lives at risk. You can look at 28th place and say, yes, it's terrible, but it doesn't apply to my part of the health-care system—the one for the non-poor insured.
Not Always 'the Happiest Time'
HEALTH: LESS PAIN, ALL GAIN
Karen Springen
BABIES
An Intelligent Test

Two percent of pregnant women are thyroid-deficient, but sometimes the symptoms, like fatigue and weight gain, go undetected. This can harm their babies' brains, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. Doctors at the Foundation for Blood Research in Maine gave IQ tests to 48 children, 7 to 9 years old, whose mothers had untreated thyroid deficiencies while pregnant. The kids scored seven points lower than a control group. If all women got inexpensive blood tests and necessary treatments, it would benefit tens of thousands of babies every year.