Preterm Delivery: A Study of Cytokine Relationships with Gestation Time and the Associated Disparities Between Developed and Developing Countries

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 4:42pm

Title	Preterm Delivery: A Study of Cytokine Relationships with Gestation Time and the Associated Disparities Between Developed and Developing Countries
Publication Type	Thesis
Year of Publication	2003
Authors	Kea, Bory
Academic Department	engineering
Thesis Advisor	Bothwell, Michelle
Degree	Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in International Studies in Bioengineering
Number of Pages	52
Date Published	06/2003
University	Oregon State University
City	Corvallis
Thesis Type	Undergraduate
Keywords	Argentina, infant mortality, Preterm delivery, US
Abstract	Preterm delivery (PTD) is the leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality in the United States. A normal healthy pregnancy comes to term at 40 weeks or 9 months of gestation. Delivery before 37 weeks is defined as preterm and after 36 weeks is defined as full-term. Approximately 11% of all US pregnancies are preterm deliveries, resulting in 450,000 infants at risk for the devastating complications of PTD. In developing countries, up to 30% of all pregnancies end with preterm deliveries. Because the causes of preterm delivery are multifaceted, two parts of the physiological and sociological model are explored. In the physiological model, cytokines were investigated as potential markers of preterm delivery. It was found that increasing IL-6 and IL-8 concentration correlated with decreased gestation time. In the sociological model, Argentina and the US were profiled and compared to elucidate the impact of socioeconomic disparities. Due to the connection of infant mortality to socioeconomics, a similar connection could be found between preterm delivery and socioeconomics. However, further investigations in Argentina are necessary to theorize more accurately and provide impetuses for action.