Preterm birth chance reduced – with 17P or Vitamin D – June 2015

Snipped from Grassroots Health email

• The US premature birthrate has risen 36% over the last 25 years; over half a million preterm births happen in the US each year.
• Preterm birth is the number one killer of newborns and the second leading cause of death in children under five.
• Vitamin D could possibly prevent 50% of preterm births,
• AND cut the risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and prenatal infections in HALF.

In conversations with hospital administrators and insurance company leaders, I learned about '17P'. 17P is a drug commonly used in hospitals and medical centers for pregnant women who have previously had a preterm birth. It is given to pregnant women as a weekly injection and is effective in reducing preterm birth by approximately 30%.

Unfortunately, it has a price tag of $50,000 per patient and the requirement for weekly injections is difficult for many women to meet. The same doctors who prescribe 17P were elated to find out about vitamin D, because:

• Vitamin D has the potential to reduce preterm birth by 50%.
• Vitamin D can be given to all pregnant women - whether they have had a prior preterm birth or not.
• Vitamin D costs $15 for the entire pregnancy.

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See also Vitamin D Life

• Overview Pregnancy and vitamin D has the following summary

IU	Cumulative Benefit	Blood level	Cofactors	Calcium	$*/month
200	Better bones for mom with 600 mg of Calcium	6 ng/ml increase	Not needed	No effect	$0.10
400	Less Rickets (but not zero with 400 IU) 3X less adolescent Schizophrenia Fewer child seizures	20-30 ng/ml	Not needed	No effect	$0.20
2000	2X More likely to get pregnant naturally/IVF 2X Fewer dental problems with pregnancy 8X less diabetes 4X fewer C-sections (>37 ng) 4X less preeclampsia (40 ng vs 10 ng) 5X less child asthma 2X fewer language problems age 5	42 ng/ml	Desirable	< 750 mg	$1
4000	2X fewer pregnancy complications 2X fewer pre-term births	49 ng/ml	Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$3
6000	Probable: larger benefits for above items Just enough D for breastfed infant More maternal and infant weight		Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$4

Click on Nov 2013 chart from Grassroots Health for details

• [https://www.vitad.org/Search+Results?hl=en&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&googles.x=0&googles.y=0&q=pre-term&domains=vitad.org&sitesearch=vitad.org|Pre-term] 969 items as of June 2015
• Pre-term births reduced in half if 40 ng of vitamin D in 3rd trimester – Nov 2014
• Chance of preterm birth is strongly associated with low vitamin D – Feb 2015
• Pregnancy category listing has 751 items along with related searches