POSTED: 5:54 p.m. PDT August 11, 2003

Micki Flowers
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Health Reporter

There's exciting news for millions of women at risk for having babies who are born too soon. New research uncovers a way to prevent premature births.

Today, about one out of eight babies is born too early, which can lead to a number of health problems.

A new study has found a treatment so effective in preventing premature births, it was stopped early. A certain hormone may give babies more time in the womb.

MORE ON THIS STORY Wake Forest University Medical Center March Of Dimes

Melissa Fowler expected her son would come early. Once a woman has had one premature baby, she's up to 30 percent more likely to have another preemie.

Her first child came eight weeks early.

"She weighed 3 pounds, 12 ounces. So she was a tiny little girl," Fowler said.

But Melissa's son was almost full term. He weighed more than six pounds, twice the size of his sister, thanks to the female hormone progesterone, which Melissa received during her pregnancy.

"This is the first good news in a long time that appears to be reasonably safe," said Dr. Jay Iams.

Doctors followed more than 450 women and gave two-thirds of them injections of the female hormone progesterone. The other third got a placebo. Premature births dropped dramatically in the group taking the hormone: an impressive 35 percent.

"You already have a lot of progesterone, if you're a pregnant lady, in your blood stream. So adding a modest amount on top of that -- it's hard to understand why that would really be beneficial, but it seems perhaps that it is," Dr. Iams said.

If there's a downside, the injections to prevent premature births can be painful. To make it easier, researchers would like to try giving the hormone to pregnant women in a skin patch or suppository.

Another plus from the hormone treatment: It helped both black and white women equally well. Blacks are up to 40 percent more likely to have multiple premature births.