The rate of preterm birth in Brazil in 2011–2012 was high, occurred predominantly as late preterm birth, and was most often spontaneous/pPROM in etiology. It did, however, have a high frequency of initiation by medical intervention, mostly by pre-labor cesarean section, with less than 10 % by induction of labor. Factors that accompany social vulnerability (adolescent pregnancy, low levels of schooling, and inadequate prenatal care) were associated with spontaneous/pPROM preterm birth. Provider-initiated preterm birth was associated with private childbirth healthcare provision and advanced maternal age, which are characteristics commonly related to greater levels of formal employment and higher levels of schooling and income. Pregnancies where the mother had an infection at admission for birth, which are usually subject to identification and early treatment during prenatal care, were at greatest risk of spontaneous/pPROM preterm birth. All of the investigated maternal and fetal pathologies—especially eclampsia and abruptio placentae—were risk factors for provider-initiated preterm birth.
This study has several strengths. First, it is the first to describe preterm birth in Brazil using primary data constituting a representative sample of the entire country. Second, GA was calculated with an algorithm based primarily on early obstetric ultrasound, which confers certain advantages over using date of last menstrual period, as the latter tends to overestimate the rate of preterm birth in the Brazilian population [15]. Third, the classification of the initiation of labor and, consequently, of the type of preterm birth, was carried out by a careful cross-referencing of diverse data in the prenatal and obstetric medical records, increasing internal validity. Nevertheless, it is not without limitations. This study was conducted in institutions where more than 500 deliveries take place each year. It is likely that pregnant women who have a planned or unplanned out of hospital delivery or who deliver in a smaller hospital would have different risks for prematurity. However, given that more than 99 % of deliveries in Brazil take place in hospitals, and approximately 80 % are in larger hospitals, significant changes to the results presented would not be expected. For a small number of women, the GA was estimated by the birth weight (2 %) or by date of last menstrual period (1 %), which may have slightly overestimated the prematurity rate, but is unlikely to have introduced a significant bias to our estimates.
Our results differ slightly from those of a study of 20 public hospitals that are centers of excellence for high-risk obstetrics in Brazil [20]. That found a rate of preterm birth of 12.3 %, with 35 % being provider-initiated. These discrepancies can be attributed to the characteristics of the hospitals, which are public and care for a disproportionately high level of women of lower socioeconomic status. Risk factors for spontaneous preterm birth were found to be comparable to those in our study.
The magnitude of the preterm birth rate in Brazil and the frequency of its determinant factors, both for spontaneous/pPROM and provider-initiated preterm birth, were quite similar to those found in US data, despite large differences in socioeconomic conditions and healthcare systems [1, 21]. The Brazilian rate of preterm birth was nearly twice that found in European countries [22, 23]. Furthermore, among premature, the provider-initiated component corresponded to approximately 40 %; 35 % among women receiving public healthcare at childbirth and 58 % among women receiving private healthcare at childbirth, denoting different models of obstetric care in the country.
Morisaki et al. [24], analyzing risk factors for preterm birth in countries with varying human development indices (HDIs), found an association at the individual level between spontaneous/pPROM preterm birth and lower social conditions for women. The authors were also able to show that the overall preterm birth rates were not related to the HDIs of given nations, but that provider-initiated preterm birth was more frequent in countries with higher indices. Within Brazil, provider-initiated preterm birth was more common in the south east, the region with the greatest HDI in the country (data not shown), and also in state capitals, which have more hospitals that are centers of excellence for the care of high-risk pregnancies and neonates [25].
The excessive medicalization of the management of labor and delivery is regarded as one of the characteristics of the current obstetric care transition in Brazil [26]. With a low fertility rate, a predominance of non-communicable disease, an increase in maternal age, and a moderate burden of maternal mortality, Brazil as an emerging economy has also shown a large and continually rising rate of cesarean sections [27].
The contradiction between higher socioeconomic status and a greater frequency of maternal and fetal pathologies among provider-initiated preterm births can be explained by the more advanced age of these women, and a greater history of prior preterm births and cesarean sections, which probably leads practitioners to opt for expedited birth through an earlier intervention. For those women, who receive mainly private healthcare at childbirth, it appear that any potential risk condition become the motive to perform caesarean sections, despite some recent government effort to avoid it. The association of provider-initiated preterm birth with all of the investigated maternal pathologies may argue that there is a need for better national implementation of clinical protocols for appropriate indication of provider-initiated birth, with possible considerations such as waiting until term or after 39 weeks [8]. The association of provider-initiated preterm birth with prior cesarean section is also important, given the high frequency of prior cesarean section in women with more than one child (55 %) and the high rate of repeat cesarean delivery, at 80 and 98 % among women receiving public and private healthcare at childbirth, respectively [11]. Holland et al. [7]. examined provider-initiated preterm birth in a cohort of late preterm infants in the US and concluded that 80 % of this burden of prematurity could have been avoided. The preventable cases were more likely to be insured and cared for by practitioners without academic ties who scheduled the cesarean section. Other US authors have estimated the rate of unnecessary provider-initiated prematurity at 50 % [28]. In our study, it was not possible to evaluate the appropriateness of these planned interruptions in gestation. If we take as a basis studies by Bannerman et al. [28] and Holland et al. [7], however, we estimate that a reduction of between 50,000 and 80,000 late preterm births might be achieved in Brazil.
Another important fact to highlight was the lack of induction of labor in provider-initiated preterm deliveries, despite the evidence of the benefits of labor for neonatal extrauterine life and colonization with maternal microbiota, which could attenuate the disadvantages facing preterm neonates [29].
The role of infection in spontaneous/pPROM preterm birth underscores the importance of quality prenatal care. Many authors point to the importance of preventive measures during gestation to minimize premature birth. We recommend the early initiation of prenatal care, especially among adolescents, the most vulnerable group. Domingues et al. [30] found that late entry into prenatal care often makes adequate clinical care impossible because healthcare systems tend to follow the same established routine in these cases as for women who began prenatal care early, without a strategy that would counteract the delay and guarantee access to all effective interventions with the minimum of follow-up time.
Late prematurity was found at high levels in our study and represents three-quarters of all preterm births in Brazil. Given current knowledge about the crucial importance of gestational weeks 34 through 36 to the development of the neonate and the risks arising from late preterm birth [5, 31, 32] this should be a focus of public health policy. Immunological and pulmonary maturation occur during that period, and late prematurity therefore increases the risk of respiratory morbidity, longer hospital stays, neonatal ICU admission and death, as well as re-hospitalization, largely because of difficulties with breastfeeding and higher rates of neonatal jaundice and infections [1]. Adverse effects on cerebral development may underlie the neurological complications described in the short term, such as inability to effectively coordinate the movements necessary for suckling, swallowing, and breathing, and, in the longer term, delayed psychomotor development and lower school performance [2, 20, 33].
Khan et al. [23] analyzed the annual costs to society of late premature infants in the first 2 years of life, compared with term infants in the UK. They estimated that the financial burden per child was nearly 2,000 GBP over this period and argued for efforts to diminish this strain on the health system. In the USA, discussions about the projected fiscal toll of prematurity have identified the need for mitigation measures [4, 23]. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any studies that estimate the cost of prematurity in Brazil.