Progesterone Shields Infants From Premature Birth miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
<p>Women with a short cervix around 20 weeks of pregnancy have an increased risk of preterm birth. Preventing preterm birth in pregnant women with a short cervix is a crucial step in protecting the health of the child. Research from Amsterdam UMC now shows that, in pregnant women with a short cervix around 20 weeks, Progesterone (a hormone) is better than a cervical pessary at reducing the risk of severe preterm birth. This study was published today in the BMJ.</p>
Progesterone protects babies from preterm birth in women with a short cervix, research shows medicalxpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicalxpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Women with a short cervix around 20 weeks of pregnancy have an increased risk of preterm birth. Preventing preterm birth in pregnant women with a short cervix is a crucial step in protecting the health of the child.
Objective To compare the effectiveness of cervical pessary and vaginal progesterone in the prevention of adverse perinatal outcomes and preterm birth in pregnant women of singletons with no prior spontaneous preterm birth at less than 34 weeks’ gestation and who have a short cervix of 35 mm or less.
Design Open label, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial.
Setting 20 hospitals and five obstetric ultrasound practices in the Netherlands.
Participants Women with a healthy singleton pregnancy and an asymptomatic short cervix of 35 mm or less between 18 and 22 weeks’ gestation were eligible. Exclusion criteria were prior spontaneous preterm birth at less than 34 weeks, a cerclage in situ, maternal age of younger than 18 years, major congenital abnormalities, prior participation in this trial, vaginal blood loss, contractions, cervical length of less than 2 mm or cervical dilatation of 3 cm or more. Sample size was set at 628 participants.
Interventions 1:1 randomisation to an Ar