Delivery of preterm and small for gestational age infants across generations.

Two generations of women were studied to clarify the influence of a woman's own preterm delivery or intrauterine growth retardation on her later risk of delivering preterm or growth-retarded infants. The first generation consists of the cohort of women who gave birth at the National University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) in Copenhagen from 1959 to 1961 and the second, those of their daughters that have delivered themselves. The background of the study and the procedures involved are described. The percentage of data obtained and the preliminary findings concerning the relationship between social and demographic factors and the willingness of subjects to participate are included.