Routine ultrasound and fetal fibronectin level monitoring are not enough to predict preterm birth, especially in the first-time mother. A recent study revealed that these methods could not identify most of those who will later go on to have a spontaneous preterm delivery and there is an urgent need to develop better screening tests. Preterm birth is a phenomenon where the baby birth occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Around 15 million children worldwide are born prematurely every year and is the number one reason for death among neonates.
Till date, the probability of preterm delivery is done based on the previous history of the patient. However, prediction remains difficult for women who is in her first pregnancy. Previous studies suggest that routine ultrasound examination of the cervix and monitoring fetal fibronectin can be done to predict preterm delivery. The cervix is the…
