Preemies may grow up to be ‘unlucky in love’

NEW YORK, Aug 18, (RTRS): Adults who were underweight babies or early arrivals may be less likely to have romantic or sexual relations or become parents than their counterparts who were fullterm infants, a research review suggests.

Compared to adults who were full-term babies, those who were premature or low birthweight infants were 57% less likely to have sexual intercourse, 28% less likely to have romantic relationships and 23% less likely to become parents, the analysis of data on more than 4 million people found.

“What we know from previous studies is that preterm-born children are usually timid, socially withdrawn and low in risk-taking and fun seeking,” said Marina Mendonca, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Warwick in the UK.

“These characteristics might make it harder for individuals born preterm to form social relationships in adulthood, such as finding a partner,” Mendonca said by email. “But when adults who were born preterm had friends or a partner, the quality of these relationships was as good as those born full-term.”

Pregnancy normally lasts about 40 weeks, and babies born after 37 weeks are considered full-term. In the weeks immediately after birth, preemies often have difficulty breathing and digesting food. Some premature infants also encounter longer-term challenges such as impaired vision, hearing and cognitive skills as well as social and behavioral problems.

Vulnerable

To examine the romantic prospects of preemies and tiny babies later in life, researchers examined data from 21 previously published studies comparing adult social outcomes for these vulnerable infants to their full-term counterparts.

The negative impact of being premature or underweight was similar for men and women and for adults at all ages.

However, the negative effects were more pronounced for the earliest arrivals and the tiniest infants.

Extremely preterm babies who arrived before 28 weeks’ gestation were 67% less likely to have romantic partners and 69% less likely to become parents in adulthood than full-term infants.

Very preterm babies who arrived at 28 to 31 weeks’ gestation were 33% less likely to have romantic partners and 21% less likely to become parents than fullterm infants.

In contrast, moderate- to latepreterm babies who arrived at 32 to 36 weeks’ gestation were only 21% less likely to have romantic relationships or become parents compared with full-term infants.

The researchers were not able to examine how disability or health problems common among preemies and underweight babies might have impacted adult relationships, the study team writes in JAMA Network Open.

Even so, the results suggest that it’s never too soon for parents of preemies and underweight babies to start helping them build social skills that may be challenging for them as they grow up, Mendonca said.

“Those caring for preterm children, including parents, health professionals and teachers, should be more aware of the potential important role of social development and social integration for preterm children,” Mendonca said.

“As preterm children tend to be more timid and shy, supporting them making friends and being integrated in their peer group may help them to later find romantic partners, have sexual relationships and to become parents, all of which enhances wellbeing.”

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DAKAR: Ebola’s spread to a new part of Democratic Republic of Congo is a disturbing sign that health workers are failing to keep track of high-risk people on the move, aid agencies said on Friday.

A woman and her child were confirmed to be the first two Ebola cases in Congo’s South Kivu province this week, after travelling more than 700 kilometres (430 miles) south from where they likely caught the disease, according to officials.

The outbreak had previously been contained to North Kivu and Ituri provinces, with a few cases in neighbouring Uganda.

Ebola has killed at least 1,900 people in the past year, the biggest toll after 11,300 died in West Africa in 2014-2016.

The 24-year-old woman had been identified as a high-risk contact of an Ebola patient in the city of Beni last month, but travelled with her children by bus, boat and road for hundreds of miles before she died on Tuesday night.

“This highlights a disturbing trend of cases originating from current hotspots which then leave the area and, despite the control measures in place along the corridor, are not detected,” said Whitney Elmer, country director for charity Mercy Corps.

“It is very concerning, especially given the efforts over the last few months to scale up the response,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Ebola causes vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea and spreads via contact with bodily fluids of the infected.

A breakthrough this week showed there may be a cure as two experimental drugs were found to boost survival rates.

But stopping the outbreak still depends on tracing and monitoring people who might have been exposed to the disease to prevent is spreading further, health workers said.

“This is very indicative of one of the challenges we face, which is that people are so mobile,” said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO deployed a rapid-response team and plans to vaccinate everyone in the village where the woman died, Harris said.