Introduction  Preterm birth is the leading cause of perinatal death.  Handicap in children and the vast majority of mortality and morbidity relates to early delivery before 34 weeks.

 Cervical cerclage and prophylactic use of progesterone can reduce the risk of preterm delivery in high risk pregnancies  However, the rate of preterm delivery has not decreased in the past 30 years because of failure to identify the high- risk group during routine prenatal care.

 Delivery before 34 weeks occurs in about 2% of singleton pregnancies.  Two thirds of the cases this is due to spontaneous onset of labor or preterm pre-labor rupture of membranes and in the other one third it is iatrogenic, mainly due to pre-eclampsia.

METHODS  The data for this study were derived from a prospective screening study for adverse obstetric outcomes in women attending their routine first hospital visit in pregnancy.  In this visit, which is held between week 11 and 13 weeks and 6 days gestation, we record maternal characteristics and medical history and perform combined screening for aneuploidies by measurements of CRL,NT and maternal serum PAPP- A and freeβ-hCG.  Screening study population

Continue…  During the second part of the study, we also measured the uterine artery PI.  Samples of serum and plasma were stored at −80 ◦ C for subsequent biochemical analysis.  We excluded pregnancies with major fetal abnormalities, those ending in termination, miscarriage or fetal death before 24 weeks and those with iatrogenic delivery before 34 weeks.

 Case-control study for biochemical markers  The case-control study involved measurement of maternal serum concentration of PlGF, PP13, ADAM12, inhibin-A and activin-A at 11–13 weeks’ gestation in pregnancies complicated by spontaneous early preterm delivery and controls delivering after 37 weeks.

RESULTS:

Obstetric history

Continue…  Spontaneous early preterm delivery there were significant contributions from maternal age, height, racial origin, smoking, method of conception and obstetric history.

Uterine Artery Doppler & Biochemical markers  In the spontaneous early preterm delivery group, compared with those delivering at or after 34 weeks:  Median PAPP-A MoM was reduced but uterine artery PI, free β-hCG, PlGF, PP13, ADAM12, inhibin-A and activin-A were not significantly different.  Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that in the prediction of spontaneous early preterm delivery the detection rate achieved by maternal characteristics and obstetric history was not significantly improved by addition of PAPP-A MoM.

DISCUSSION  This study has established an algorithm for the calculation of patient-specific risk of spontaneous early preterm delivery by maternal characteristics and obstetric history and demonstrated that the prediction of preterm delivery is not improved by assessment of placental perfusion and function at 11–13 weeks.

Discussion…  The risk for spontaneous early preterm delivery increases with:  Maternal Age  Women of African And South Asian  Cigarette Smokers  After the Use of Ovulation Induction Drugs  Decreases with Height

Discussion…  A population-based cohort study of singleton pregnancies in Sweden reported that the incidence of delivery before 32 weeks increased from about 1% for women aged 20– 24 to 2.4% at 40 and above.

Discussion…  The risk of preterm delivery was inversely related to maternal height and increased from about 0.6% for a woman of 180 cm in height to 1.3% for one of 140 cm. Such an association was also reported in a population - based study of singleton pregnancies and the increased risk in women with short stature was attributed to small uterine size, which may lead to membrane stretching, cervical shortening or other biomechanical factor that increase the likelihood of preterm delivery.

Discussion…  Cigarette smoke components may increase the risk of preterm pre-labor membrane rupture through impairment of immune function and promotion of inflammatory mechanisms.

Discussion…  Risk of spontaneous delivery before 34 weeks was inversely related to the gestation at previous spontaneous delivery.  As many pregnancies with severe early onset pre- eclampsia have iatrogenic preterm delivery, failure to distinguish between iatrogenic and spontaneous preterm delivery could lead to the erroneous.

Discussion…  Histological and Doppler studies in the second and third trimesters of pregnancies demonstrated that spontaneous preterm delivery may be associated with impaired placentation and placental ischemia.  A screening study involving the measurement of uterine artery PI at 22–24 weeks in women with singleton pregnancies reported that although the PI was significantly increased in the 237 with spontaneous delivery before 33.

Discussion…  A small decrease in serum PAPP-A at 11–13 weeks in pregnancies that subsequently deliver spontaneously before 34 weeks but no significant differences in the levels of serum free β-hCG, PLGF, PP13,ADAM12, activin-A or inhibinA.  Screening at 11–13 weeks by maternal characteristics and obstetric history can identify, at an FPR of 10%, about 20% of spontaneous early preterm deliveries in nulliparous women and 38% in women with previous pregnancies at or after 16 weeks.

Discussion…  This approach of combining maternal characteristics with biophysical and biochemical markers at 11–13 weeks can be evaluated in prospective studies to identify pregnancies at high risk of adverse pregnancy outcome, including aneuploidies, preterm delivery, preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal growth restriction and macrosomia.

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