Lee Swanson Research Update

Multivitamins Reduce the Risk of Premature Birth

March 2005

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that women who take multivitamin supplements prior to conception may have a reduced risk of preterm birth. The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Previous research suggests that multivitamin use before and during pregnancy can diminish diet-related deficiencies of certain micronutrients and potentially prevent preterm birth. Researchers set out to assess the association by using data from the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition Study (PINS).

The PINS recruited 2,010 women at 24-29 weeks of pregnancy from four prenatal care clinics in North Carolina from August 1995 to June 2000. After analyzing the PINS results, researchers determined that women who took multivitamins before conception had a 50% lower risk of preterm birth compared to women who did not take multivitamins.

American Journal of Epidemiology 160(9):886-892, 2004

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