The rate of preterm births remains alarmingly high in the U.S., according to the latest March of Dimes Report Card.
The figure was around 10.4% as of 2022 — just a 1% decline from 2021, when the preterm rate was at its highest in a decade.
Every year, the March of Dimes assigns each U.S. state a preterm birth “grade,” based on the share of babies born before 37 weeks’ gestation.
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Overall, the U.S. received a D+ in 2022.
Grades of F were given to eight southern states: Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.
“Far too many communities are falling further behind when it comes to preterm birth,” said Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, president and CEO at March of Dimes in Arlington, Virginia, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Chandani DeZure, M.D., a neonatal pediatric hospitalist in Palo Alto, California, and a BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board member, said that the new March of Dimes report is the result of three overarching problems.
