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The BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation has donated a four-year, $2.48 million grant to Vanderbilt for research on how to prevent premature births.

The Tennessee Department of Health reports the death rate for premature babies was 44.7 per 1,000, compared to 3.0 per 1,000 for normal gestation babies, in 2004. For premature babies the infant mortality rate was 78.8 per 1,000 for black, versus 32.9 for white.

Connections for Better Birth Outcomes has as its goal to determine if premature births can be prevented among women at high risk for early delivery, and to find ways to reduce healthcare costs, infant mortality and health disparities associated with pre-term births.

Melanie Lutenbacher, associate professor of Nursing and Pediatrics and director of the Ph.D. in Nursing Science Program at Vanderbilt, and Patricia Temple, professor of Pediatrics and medical director for Nurses for Newborns, are co-leads in the study.

"We're trying to recruit 300 women who are pregnant now and who have had a prior pre-term birth," Lutenbacher said. "The goal is prevent premature births but, if we can lengthen the gestation age by a few weeks that helps as far as the morbidity of the infant and with healthcare cost. "

Calvin Anderson, vice president of federal and community relations, BCBST, said with Tennessee ranked 48th in the nation in premature births, he "trust the grant will make a huge difference."

Dr. Tom Catron, director of the governor's office of Children's Care Coordination, said the study goes hand in hand with their mission to efficiently lower the infant mortality rate in Tennessee.



November 2006

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