title: What is Behind the Rising Rates of Preterm Birth in the United States?
abstract: We review three decades of unsuccessful efforts by public policy-makers in the United States to develop programs to lower the rate of preterm birth. We analyze why these efforts had been unsuccessful. Finally, we will speculate about whether something has changed in the last few years that might finally bend the curve and reverse the trend of a steadily rising preterm birth rate.
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri at Kansas City, and Director, Children's Mercy Bioethics Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO, USA; and.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lantos
authors.forename: Diane S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lauderdale
keywords: Preterm birth; bioethics; epidemiology; infant mortality; prenatal care
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