Women cancer survivors more likely to have pre-term delivery

"We found that women were more likely to deliver pre-term if they've been treated for cancer overall, with greater risks for women who had chemotherapy," said Hazel B. Nichols, Assistant Professor in the University of North Carolina, US.Children who do not spend as long in-utero environment are likely to have a higher incidence of breathing problems or infections.Further, the study found that risk of pre-term birth for breast cancer survivors was nearly two times, a 60 per cent higher risk of pre-term birth in women with Hodgkin lymphoma, an increased risk of approximately two times in women with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and a risk that was nearly three times higher for women with gynaecologic cancers.