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BEND - A neonatal expert will speak on Monday, March 3, at the Oregon State University-Cascades Campus "First Monday Lecture Series" on the causes and societal impacts of premature birth.

Dr. Allen Merritt, director of neonatology at St. Charles Medical Center and adjunct professor at Oregon Health & Science University, will speak at 7 p.m. in the Hitchcock Auditorium at the Central Oregon Community College campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Prematurity and low birth weights are the number one cause of newborn deaths. The number of babies born prematurely has increased 27 percent since 1981, Merrit said, and in the United States in 2001 about 476,000 newborns, or 12 percent of all babies born, were premature. In Deschutes County, 8.9 percent of all newborns are premature.

Of the preemies who do survive, about one-fourth to one-third have life-long health problems, which can include attention deficit disorder, asthma, lower IQ's, seizures, sensory integration, myopia and sometimes blindness. Premature and low birth weight babies require more than $6 billion dollars annually in medical care, often needing intensive care for weeks after birth, and many also require additional medical care for the rest of their lives.

Merritt said that understanding the basic biologic triggers for premature labor and premature rupture of the membranes is needed to reduce the number of premature babies. More clinical trials are also needed to prevent premature labor and delivery, and develop approaches for infection screening and treatment, optimal weight, and nutrition during pregnancy. Smoking cessation and stress management during pregnancy have already been shown to reduce premature birth in babies.