Montana recognized for decline in early births

Montana has gained national attention for reducing its rate of babies who are born before they’re due, meaning they have a better chance of a healthy life.

State officials announced Tuesday that Montana is one of seven states to receive the March of Dimes Virginia Apgar Prematurity Campaign Leadership Award. Montana’s premature birth rate dropped from 10.1 percent in 2010 to 8.4 percent in 2015. The national average is 9.6 percent.

Sheila Hogan, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said the award represents “the hard work of many organizations across the state of Montana to improve the health of moms and babies.”

A premature — or preterm — birth takes place more than three weeks before a baby is due — or 37 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.

An estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year, according to the World Health Organization. Almost 1 million children die each year due to complications of preterm birth.

Babies who survive an early birth often face continuing health problems, such as breathing difficulties or intellectual delays. The Institute of Medicine reported the cost associated with premature birth in the United States is $26.2 billion annually due to medical expenses and following costs such as early intervention or special-education services.

Flathead County had the lowest premature birth rate out of Montana’s six largest counties, according to the 2016 March of Dimes Report Card. The county had a rate of 6.1 percent. Cascade County had the highest rate at 10.7 percent.

In 2014, the state health department created a policy requiring hospitals delivering babies to evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether there’s medical justification for an early delivery. The policy revolved around non-medically necessary early inductions and cesarean sections prior to 39 weeks of gestation.

“Elective deliveries increase the risk to both mother and infant, and there is no evidence that they confer any health benefits in the absence of medical indications,” Hogan said.

In the same year, the department also implemented a reduction to reimbursement for non-medically necessary early deliveries. Hogan said the policy reduced the number of elective deliveries within Medicaid and helped lower Montana’s overall prematurity rate.

Each year, about 12,000 babies are born in Montana. On average, nearly 45 percent of those deliveries are paid for by Medicaid, according to the state health department.

Denise Higgins, March of Dimes Montana Maternal Child Health Committee chairwoman, said Montana has made “preterm birth a strategic focus” through system level changes such as reducing early elective deliveries.

“This progress demonstrates the dramatic impact that is possible when infant health becomes a statewide priority,” Higgins said.

Within the same year Montana’s premature birth rate hit 8.4 percent, the nation’s preterm birth rate worsened for the first time in eight years.

The U.S. earned a “C” grade on the 2016 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card due to widening differences in prematurity rates across different races and ethnicities.

The U.S. preterm birth rate went up from 9.57 to 9.63 in 2015, according to final data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Across the country, preterm birth rates were nearly 48 percent higher among black women and more than 15 percent higher among American Indian/Alaska Native women compared to white women.

The divide has not skipped Montana.

In Montana, the preterm birth rate among American Indian/Alaska Native women is 51 percent higher than the rate among all other women, according to the state’s 2016 March of Dimes Report Card.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.