New research has found a link between women who have a history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and higher risks of stillbirth and premature birth.

The Daily Mail is reporting that experts from the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney examined data from more than 350,000 women who had their first baby between 1999 and 2008. Nearly 4,000 reported having at least one chlamydia infection before becoming pregnant and nearly 200 said they had been diagnosed with gonorrhea prior to their pregnancy.

Women who were infected with chlamydia were 17 per cent more likely to have an unplanned premature birth and 40 per cent more likely to have a stillborn baby, the results showed.

Those who had gonorrhoea were more than twice as likely to have a premature birth.

The study is newsworthy because while STD infections are already linked to complications during pregnancy, this is the first study to find that the risk exists even if the women suffered these infections prior to conception.

These findings are worrisome, especially because STD infections have been at epidemic levels for years with no signs of abetting, thanks to an increasingly promiscuous culture, particularly among young people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 2.8 million cases of chlamydia and 718,000 cases of gonorrhea occur annually in the U.S. with nearly half of these infections occurring in people ages 15-24.

Most women who are infected with chlamydia and gonorrhea have no symptoms. Left untreated, these "silent" infections can develop into pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or an infection in the upper genital tract that may cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissue, which can lead to infertility.

Pregnant women with an STD also risk infecting their baby before, during or after the baby's birth. It may also cause miscarriage, early labor, or early rupture of the membranes surrounding the baby in the uterus leading to a premature birth.

The authors of the most recent study, which has been published in the online journal, Sexually Transmitted Infections, say that their findings don't prove a direct cause between prior infections and pregnancy complications, but that "sexually transmissible infections in pregnancy and the preconception period may be important in predicting adverse obstetric outcomes."

© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com