Premature Birth Gene Discovered

Here's a bit of good news for a change:

A gene linked to premature births has been discovered, scientists in the US and Finland have said.

The researchers hope their study, published in PLoS Genetics, could eventually lead to a test for women at risk of a pre-term birth.

In the UK, one in 10 babies is born before the 37th week of pregnancy, with potential problems for their health.

A premature birth can be absolutely devastating for a family, especially if it results in death, so to hear news like this is amazing

They looked for DNA which showed evidence of "accelerated evolution" - genes which have mutated more in humans than in other primates.

They identified 150 genes.

It then goes on to say:

"In the future we will be able to identify a percentage of people at risk. It won't be the be all and end all, but it will contribute to our knowledge."

Hopefully the heartbreak and suffering of many a parent will be confined to the history books in years to come

Premature birth gene discovered

Huh. If they'd discovered this sooner, it would've saved me from delivering at 27 weeks!
Still, hopefully this will help prevent others going through the same I did.

i always thought that premature births were caused from the woman either from drugs,drinking or smoking cigs...i never even stopped to think that it could be genetic,,,even tho i still believe that alot of cases of premature births are caused from the before mentione dexamples...but it would be great if the are able to pinpoint some of the reason by looking at genes and can at least hep those mothers and babies thatcab be helped

reply to post by gdaub23


Probably a significant percentage of premature births are down to the expectant mothers behaviour, but there are so many legitimate reasons why a baby can be born prematurely, and the assumption that babies are born early because of something the mother did wrong, just adds insult to injury.
I don't think your comment was in any way aimed at me, but I just wanted to say something about that, sorry.

reply to post by Griffo


Thats pretty amazing, I was born a month and a half early and was lucky it wasn't 2 months so this could be great news for future mothers and children. I generally show up 30 minutes earlier than needed to appointments too

Also my Mother never smoked cigarettes, didn't drink or smoke other things during the pregnancy either.

Originally posted by gdaub23
i always thought that premature births were caused from the woman either from drugs,drinking or smoking cigs...i never even stopped to think that it could be genetic,,,even tho i still believe that alot of cases of premature births are caused from the before mentione dexamples...but it would be great if the are able to pinpoint some of the reason by looking at genes and can at least hep those mothers and babies thatcab be helped

Or you know, the mothers blood could potentially clot too well and cause complications and premature births. Dont be so quick to assume, my gf works with high risk mothers everyday at work... you would be surprised at how many reason this could happen naturally. Oh and i was 8 weeks early.