[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7809-S7810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself and Mr. Dodd):
  S. 3906. A bill to reduce preterm labor and delivery and the risk of 
pregnancy-related deaths and complications due to pregnancy, and to 
reduce infant mortality caused by prematurity; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today I am pleased to once again 
partner with my good friend and colleague Senator Dodd to introduce the 
Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver 
Infants Early Act, or the PREEMIE Act. This bipartisan bill 
reauthorizes and expands upon the 2006 PREEMIE Act to enhance research 
into the causes and prevention of prematurity. The end result of this 
bill will hopefully be to find a solution to the serious problem of 
premature birth.
  Premature birth is the leading killer of newborns and a major cause 
of lasting disabilities, and finding answers to this problem is one of 
the most urgent challenges confronting medicine today. More than half a 
million babies are born prematurely in the United States each year, and 
in nearly half the cases the causes are unknown. In Tennessee 236 
babies are born preterm per week on average, and in 2007, 12,256 babies 
or 14.2 percent of all live births were premature.
  The emotional toll a premature birth has on a family is significant. 
When an infant arrives prematurely before 37 weeks gestation, the 
family faces a stressful new world. Often, the parents see the baby 
only momentarily before he or she is whisked away to the neonatal 
intensive care unit, NICU. Instead of taking home a healthy baby, 
parents spend hours in the hospital, talking to all kinds of 
specialists who use clinical terms that they don't always understand. 
The baby's medical equipment is frightening, and the busy, hectic 
atmosphere in the NICU is stressful. Often the mother, who may have 
suffered from her own serious medical complications, recovers and 
leaves the hospital before the baby does.
  Many preterm infants face life-threatening complications. Families 
with premature infants often refer to the NICU as a roller-coaster 
experience. One day the baby appears to be doing well; the next, hope 
seems to be lost. Day-to-day life is completely disrupted. Parents 
spend hours in the NICU, away from their other children and work. The 
average hospital stay in 2005 was nearly nine times as long for a 
preterm infant (13 days) compared to an infant born at term (1.5 days).
  Families face financial stress as they struggle to pay the high NICU 
costs, since the average first year medical costs were about 10 times 
greater for preterm, $32,325, than for term infants, $3,325, in 2005. 
Additionally, 4 out of the 10 most expensive hospital stays regardless 
of age are related to infant care: infant respiratory distress 
syndrome, prematurity/low birthweight, cardiac/circulatory birth 
defects, and lack of oxygen in infants.
  Advances in neonatology are saving even the smallest and most fragile 
newborns, but we need to prevent those births from happening too early 
in the first place. We now find ourselves facing enormous potential for 
progress, and technological innovation has made sequencing of the 
entire human genome possible, which will hasten the pace of discovery 
and application of new knowledge. Hopefully, research moves ahead to 
unravel the mysteries of premature birth and to find the answers that 
will save babies' lives. However, the private sector cannot accomplish 
this goal alone, which is why we need dedicated federal resources to 
support such efforts.
  If we invest the money now and conduct additional research 
investigating the root causes of prematurity, it will save the 
Government money over time, and parents will not have to fear for their 
new child's life from the moment of birth. I strongly urge my 
colleagues to join me and support the PREEMIE Act--an investment in 
infants' health.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss a very serious issue 
that affects many Americans, and that is premature births. More than 
half a million babies will be born preterm this year and approximately 
28,000 babies will die before they turn 1 year old.
  In my home State of Connecticut, there were more than 4,000 preterm 
births in 2007, representing approximately 11 percent of all live 
births in the State. Between 1997 and 2007, the rate of infants born 
preterm in Connecticut increased 3 percent.
  The incidence of preterm birth represents a huge disconnect between 
our scientific knowledge and our capacity to meet basic and critical 
needs in maternal-child health. According to the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, CDC, babies who died from preterm birth-related 
causes accounted for more than 36 percent of infant deaths in 2006. For 
newborns, prematurity is the leading cause of death.
  Of the surviving preemies, approximately one-fourth will have serious 
health complications including hearing loss, cerebral palsy, 
intellectual disabilities, acute respiratory diseases, and other 
maladies. These health problems not only affect the child, but also 
place a financial and emotional burden on many families. According to 
the Institute of Medicine, the annual societal costs associated with 
preterm birth were $26.2 billion in 2005 or $51,600 per infant born 
preterm. Nearly two-thirds of this cost was for medical care. More 
importantly, the $26.2 billion estimate does not include the cost of 
medical care beyond early childhood or caretaker costs such as lost 
wages.
  In nearly half of all cases, physicians and scientists cannot 
pinpoint a cause for preterm labor and delivery. However, research has 
shown that causes of preterm birth may include neighborhood 
characteristics, environmental exposures, biological factors, and 
medical conditions. Many of these factors can occur in combination, 
particularly for those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and 
minority groups. Accordingly, there are significant disparities in the 
rates of preterm birth across these groups, with the highest rate of 
preterm births for non-Hispanic African Americans at 17.5 percent in 
2008, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. It is 
clear that a greater commitment to eliminating these inequalities is 
needed. As the chairman of the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions' Subcommittee on Children and Families, ensuring the 
health of America's children has been my life's work, making the 
correction of these inequalities an issue of great importance.
  In 2006, my colleague Senator Alexander and I worked to pass the 
Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver 
Infants Early Act or PREEMIE Act, Public Law 109-450, which authorized 
finding to enhance Federal research related to preterm labor and 
delivery and increased public and provider education and support 
services. Among the results of the PREEMIE Act were the 2008 Surgeon 
General's Conference on Preterm Birth and expanded research activities 
at CDC. The most notable accomplishment to date is a 3 percent decline 
in the preterm birth rate from 2007 to 2008. But there is still much 
work to be done. We must build on the progress recently achieved and 
use both public and private efforts to accelerate this decrease in the 
rate of preterm birth.
  For these reasons, I rise today to join my colleague from Tennessee 
to introduce the PREEMIE Act to reauthorize these vital activities. It 
is my hope that this legislation will complement many of the efforts 
being conducted by the private sector, such as the March of Dimes 
campaign to raise public awareness and reduce the rate of preterm 
births. I urge my colleagues to join me in promoting a healthy start 
for America's children by supporting this legislation.

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