Groundbreaking New Test Will Help Predict Preterm Birth Risks

The last thing any parent wants to have to plan for is what to do when a birth injury occurs. Unfortunately, birth injury statistics reveal that — on average — about 28,000 babies are born with an injury every year.

Often times, one of the most difficult things to determine is whether or not the injury occurred naturally during the incubation or birthing process, or if it was the result of medical malpractice or negligence that requires the help of birth injury lawyers.

One of the biggest risk factors in inherent or “natural” conditions that typically does not necessitate the help of a birth injury lawyer is a premature, or preterm birth. Preterm birth’s have a greater chance of bearing a low birth weight baby, which is one of the most common risk factors for cerebral palsy. Unless something is done to bring about this onset of early birth unnaturally, it’s one of those things that can’t really be prevented.

Preterm births can make it difficult for parents and professionals to determine if a birth injury occurred due to the greater risk, or a mistake/accident on the part of the healthcare provider. A new study has been tested that should be able to help clarify this conundrum going forward.

According to a press release from Globenewswire.com, Sera Prognostics — a woman’s healthcare company — announced that they have developed a new blood test that will help determine if a woman is at risk for a preterm birth as early as 19 weeks into pregnancy. The study, entitled “Proteomic Assessment of Preterm Risk” (PAPR), was published in theAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“To date, physicians have had limited tools and methods to identify women who are at increased risk of preterm birth…. The great majority of women delivering prematurely present in labor, when options for managing their pregnancies are late and quite restricted,” said John Elliott, MD, maternal-fetal medicine expert and Medical Director, Valley Perinatal Services. “Using the PreTRM test provides information I need to be proactive with pregnancies at increased risk and make more informed decisions in managing those pregnancies.”

Approximately 20% of new-born babies are diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy due to a brain injury during the birthing process, but with new developments like this, doctors and their patients will have a better chance of identifying potentially dangerous situations early on and reduce the need for birth injury lawyers in general.

That’s something even the professionals on our end can certainly get behind.