Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Placenta. 2020 Sep 1;98:24-28. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2020.04.016. Epub 2020 Apr 28.
Preterm birth is highly prevalent in Ghana. It is a major public health concern because of the high burden as well as the associated immediate and long-term consequences including increased healthcare cost. Studies conducted in high-income countries may not be sufficiently generalizable in our context. Locally generated evidence-based interventions will be indispensable in improving the clinical management and prevention of preterm birth in the country. However, there are limited published literature on preterm birth and prematurity in the country. This review seeks to discuss the major challenges associated with preterm birth research in Ghana and proposes evidence-based strategies to improve biomedical and epidemiological research on preterm birth and prematurity. The limited high quality preterm birth research is partly attributable to a variety of challenges related to accurate gestational age estimation, research training, capacity and support including funding, efficient ethics committees, local and international collaboration as well as effective health management information systems. Other related challenges include unavailability of reliable internet connectivity, poor compensation for researchers and lack of conductive research environment. There is the need to expedite advocacy on implementation of practical interventions and strategies aimed at increasing high quality research in the area of preterm birth and prematurity in the country. A paradigm shift in preterm birth research with appropriate integration of concerted multidisciplinary research groups should be constituted to put basic science research to clinical practice as well as the prevention of preterm birth in the country.
早产在加纳非常普遍。由于其高负担以及相关的直接和长期后果，包括增加医疗保健成本，因此它是一个主要的公共卫生关注点。在高收入国家进行的研究在我们的背景下可能不够具有普遍性。在改善该国早产的临床管理和预防方面，基于当地的循证干预措施将是不可或缺的。然而，关于该国早产和早产儿的文献有限。这篇综述旨在讨论与加纳早产研究相关的主要挑战，并提出基于循证的策略，以改善早产和早产儿的生物医学和流行病学研究。有限的高质量早产研究部分归因于与准确估计胎龄、研究培训、能力和支持（包括资金）、高效的伦理委员会、本地和国际合作以及有效的健康管理信息系统相关的各种挑战。其他相关挑战包括缺乏可靠的互联网连接、研究人员补偿低以及缺乏有利的研究环境。有必要加快倡导实施旨在增加该国早产和早产儿领域高质量研究的实际干预措施和策略。需要进行早产研究的范式转变，适当整合协同的多学科研究小组，将基础科学研究转化为临床实践，以及预防该国的早产。
