CREMONA – The Sunday appointment is back with the video column dedicated to health «The doctor answers». The protagonist of this episode is Dr. Bruno Drera, head of the simple departmental Operative Unit of Neonatal Pathology of the Cremona Hospital.
«On November 17 we celebrate the World Day of Prematurity, an event to raise public awareness on this issue – underlines Dr. Drera -. It is a way to give a voice to the parents of young patients and to support these warriors who from birth have to face a long path of treatment ».
NASCITE PREMATURE. In Italy, about 30 thousand premature babies are born every year, that is, born before the 37th week of gestational age, that is 7% of the total born on national soil. There has been a surge in premature births among women who contracted Covid during pregnancy. In the province of Cremona, the number of preterm births is in line with the national figure.
“Preterm birth can be spontaneous or induced for maternal medical reasons or for fetal pathologies – clarifies Dr. Drera -. Generally in the face of a spontaneous premature birth we cannot identify an exact cause, even if there are risk factors such as twin pregnancies, assisted fertilization, infections of the genital or urinary tract, maternal diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Obviously the lifestyle should not be underestimated ».
The preterm infant has not completed its correct development and maturation of all organs and therefore could manifest a serious problem of adaptation to extrauterine life: «At birth he is in a foreign environment that subjects him to stressful factors, such as noise, light, pain, therapies – underlines Dr. Drera -. It is very important that there is parental involvement alongside medical and nursing care. The skin-to-skin contact of the newborn with the mother makes the vital parameters of the newborn more stable ».
The video section dedicated to health – in collaboration with the Cremona ASST – deals with a specific topic every week with the help of a specialist. Information on the simple departmental Operative Unit i Neonatal Pathology on the website (www.asst-cremona.it).
