Babies born earlier than 37 weeks of gestation are three times more likely to have cerebral palsy than those born full term, according to Dr. Joann Petrini of the March of Dimes and colleagues from institutions throughout the US.

Until 20 to 30 years ago, only a few newborns managed to survive. Even today, very small or premature babies stand chances to have severe health problems, such as cerebral palsy. In a study of more than 140,000 babies born between 2000 and 2004 in California, ranging from preterm (30-37 weeks) to full term (37-41 weeks), researchers found that babies delivered early were three times more likely to be diagnosed with cerebral palsy than those born full term or later.

"We're surprised to see the late preterm babies had a higher risk of cerebral palsy," says lead author Petrini.” Those baby also had a 25 percent increased higher risk of “developmental delay or mental retardation than full-term babies,” he added.

Babies born earlier than 9 months fight to survive because they have low birth weight and organs that are not completely developed. Due to the progress of technology, therefore to better medical techniques and care, baby mortality rates after preterm birth have decreased over the past 40 years

As stated by Petrini, approximately 1 in 11 babies are delivered at 34 to 36 weeks’ gestation, which means over 370,000 births each year.