Incidence of preterm delivery in Hong Kong Chinese.

A retrospective analysis of the obstetric database between January, 1995 and December, 1996 was conducted to establish the rate of preterm birth and the incidence of babies with low birth-weight amongst Hong Kong Chinese in an obstetric teaching unit in Hong Kong, and to investigate possible risk factors for spontaneous preterm deliveries. In the series of 13,641 Chinese women who delivered during the study period, the incidence of preterm births before 37 weeks' gestation was 7.4% while the incidence of low birth-weight infants (<2,500g) was 6.4%. When only singleton pregnancies were included, the incidences of preterm births and low birth-weight were 6.5% and 5.1% respectively. This study has demonstrated results contrary to the belief that premature delivery is uncommon in a Chinese population. In addition, we have found that, similar to Caucasian populations, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, antepartum haemorrhage and congenital malformation are significant risk factors for spontaneous preterm labour in singleton pregnancy in our Chinese population.