Women who were born prematurely have an increased risk of giving birth to a premature child, a new study has found.

According to Canadian researchers, it is already known that women who were born with a low birth weight are more likely to give birth prematurely. However, they wanted to see whether a woman's premature status also had an impact.

They looked at over 7,400 women who were morn prematurely over a 19-year period, between 1976 and 1995. These were compared to women who were born at full term.

"Our findings are unequivocal. The simple fact of being born prematurely increases the risk of premature delivery," the researchers from the University of Montreal said.

They found that 13% of women who were themselves born premature, i.e. before 37 weeks gestation, went on to give birth prematurely at least once. This was compared to 9% of women born at full term.

This figure rose to 14% among those who were born before 32 weeks gestation.

"The difference is not alarming considering that according to our findings the vast majority of women born preterm gave birth at term. But it is significant enough to consider preterm birth a risk factor in monitoring pregnancies," commented the study's senior author, Dr Anne Monique Nuyt.

She pointed out that if it is known that being born prematurely is a risk factor for pregnant women, ‘obstetricians could inform their patients of the warning signs of premature labour, so they can be vigilant and respond quickly if contractions occur'.

"Including preterm birth in the risk factors for pregnancy would also help to better target women most at risk when a preventive treatment becomes available," Dr Nuyt added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Obstetrics & Gynecology.

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