1 Department of Neonatology, Roanoke Memorial Hospitals, Roanoke, Virginia 24001
2 Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
To the Editor.
It was encouraging to see the results of the recent study from France on the prevention of preterm births published in Pediatrics.1 Pediatricians have long supported preventive measures to improve infant and child health. But, pediatricians, in general, and neonatologists, in particular, have been slow to assume an advocacy position for an obvious, important preventive effort, namely, reducing the incidence of low birth weight.
During the last 20 years, the United States has experienced a dramatic improvement in neonatal mortality, from rates of neonatal death of 18 per 1,000 live births in 1965 to 6.8 per 1,000 live births today.2,3