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0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2008 | by Rita Rubin

Highlights from USA TODAY's new health blog, A

Better Life, by medical reporter Rita Rubin:

C-sections linked to premature births

As the U.S. C-section rate has risen to an all-time high, so has the rate of premature births, and a new report says that's far from a coincidence.

Between 1996 and 2004, the number of premature births increased by 60,000, and 92% of them were delivered by C-section, according to the new study by March of Dimes and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers. And many of those C-sections might have been so-called "maternal choice" procedures done for no medical reason.

There are "significant downsides" to having a baby too early, the March of Dimes' Alan Fleischman notes.

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