Premature Birth

Mum's breathe easier

Can a woman´s lack of oxygen during sleep affect the growth of her unborn baby? The theory is being investigated by a team at Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust.

Preterm labour

Instinctively we all respond to the vulnerability of babies, and none are more vulnerable than those born extremely prematurely. Normal gestation is 37-42 weeks, but babies can be born and survive as early as 23 weeks.

What causes premature labour?

Every year, between two and four percent of all babies born in the UK arrive very prematurely - before 32 weeks of pregnancy. Babies born this early not only have a high mortality rate, but if they survive are more likely to be severely disabled.

Drugs to prevent premature labour

Action Medical Research funding has enabled a team at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne to study the role of the hormone hCG in pregnancy and labour

Misconceptions of premature birth

Can you predict it? Can you prevent it? Is it genetic? A recent survey discovered just how little people know about being born too early.

Safety first

An Action Medical Research study has investigated the safety of treating premature babies with steroids.

Progress on prematurity - thanks to cancer treatment drug

Babies born too soon can face a lifetime of problems, but researchers in Newcastle hope to find the key that unlocks the mystery of why so many babies arrive prematurely.

Prevention better than cure

Babies born too soon can face a lifetime of difficulties - but what causes a woman to go into labour weeks, and sometimes months, before her due date?

Speech and language in children born preterm

Advanced technology has opened up many avenues for research, and few have created more opportunities than a new technique for scanning the brain, called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI).

Pregnancy Complications

Study on labour produces exciting results

Successful childbirth relies on the uterus producing strong, coordinated muscular contractions which push the baby along the birth canal into the outside world.

Blindness in pre-term babies

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding eye disease occurring in babies born before full term.

Brain damage in pre-term babies

An Action Medical Research project used pioneering techniques to demonstrate a link between infection in the womb and brain damage in pre-term babies

MRI scans predict brain damage in babies

Most people associate stroke with the elderly, but sadly some babies suffer stroke when they are born. Neonatal stroke affects one or two in every 4,000 babies.

Collaboration on pre-eclampsia

Most pregnant women know of the risks of pre-eclampsia, a condition affecting one in every ten pregnancies in the UK. It is characterised by high blood pressure, headaches, swelling of the body and kidney problems and each year thousands of women are treated for it.

Treating the mother, protecting the baby

Many women itch in pregnancy and it´s usually no cause for concern. But very severe itching can be a symptom of obstetric cholestasis, a liver disease with potentially devastating consequences.

Genetic diseases

Blind from birth

Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is an inherited disease which usually causes total blindness from birth.

Pushing the boundaries

Professor Nicholas Fisk is a world leader in the search for treatments for babies with problems inside the womb.

New test for genetic disorder

Neurofibromatosis is one of the most common genetic disorders. Of the two types of neurofibromatosis, type 1 (NF1) affects around one in 2,500 babies born in the UK.

Craniosynostosis

An Action Medical Research project helping babies with a potentially devastating condition called craniosynostosis.

Care of the newborn

Hope for tiny babies

Tiny premature babies, some of whom weigh less than 1500 grammes (3.3 lbs), are being helped by an Action Medical Research project at the University of Liverpool.

Finding the right food

We all know how vulnerable very premature infants are to infection, but what Dr Kempley and his colleagues are asking is, do feeding practises play any part in triggering disease?

Childhood infections

An Action Medical Research project is seeking to improve protection against serious childhood infections.

Boost for bowel research

Every 72 hours, a baby is born in the UK suffering from Hirschsprung´s disease - a life threatening bowel obstruction, usually diagnosed within days of birth.

Cool caps for babies

An Action Medical Research project has contributed to the discovery that brain damage caused by sudden lack of oxygen at birth can be reversed.

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