The research team, from the University of Leicester, say that the findings highlight an urgent need to better understand the link between deprivation and risk of pre-term birth.
For the study, the research team tracked 7,449 very pre-term infants, born between 1998-2007 in the former Trent region of England, from the onset of labour until discharge from neonatal care.
A deprivation score was calculated for each infant using postcode data.
Overall, mothers from the most deprived areas were nearly twice as likely to have a very pre-term infant compared with those from the least deprived areas, and consequently there were nearly twice as many deaths due to very pre-term birth in the most deprived areas.
