Cheap, safe device helps avoid premature birth

[FarCenter]

A simple low-cost silicon ring can slash the risk of premature birth, a major cause of death in newborns and health problems in adult life, according to a trial reported on Tuesday by The Lancet.

Spanish doctors tested the 38 euro ($49.50) device, known as a pessary, on women in their last three months of pregnancy who had cervical shortening, a condition that weakens the pelvic floor and leads to pre-term birth.

The pessary is designed to strengthen the cervix -- the lower end of the uterus that leads to the vagina -- so that it can cope with the extra weight of the final weeks of pregnancy.

Silicon pessaries have been used over the past 50 years as one of several methods to prevent pre-term births.

But their effectiveness has been debated, and this was the first time the device had been investigated in a randomised trial.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120403-cheap-safe-device-helps-avoid-premature-birth

This would help decrease medical costs, since caring for premature infants is extremely expensive.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And later in life

Since premise are good candidates for a series of medical conditions, such as diabetes.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. For the record, I think it's silicone, not silicon

That's what the BBC says, anyway: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17583731

I think AFP just slipped up.