Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to invazivestigate the place of the measurement of cervical length in of the prediction of preterm delivery in asymptomatic and symptomatic pregnant women consulted to our clinic at their 20-25 gestational weeks. METHODS: The study group consisted of 261 eligible pregnant women who consented to participate in our study and consulted to Bağcılar Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecolgy clinic between March 6, 2012, and June 3, 2012 because of their complaints or routine pregnancy controls. Pregnant women with multiple pregnancies, known fetal and/or uterine anomalies, and preterm labor diagnosed at admission were excluded from the study. Preterm birth group consisted of pregnant women who gave birth before 37. weeks of gestation, and term birth group consisted of pregnancies who gave birth at 37 weeks and after 37 weeks. Significance was defined as a P value of <0.05. RESULTS: The study began with 261 pregnant women. and 6 pregnant women were lost to follow-up. Study was terminated with 255 pregnant women. Twenty-four pregnant women (% 9.4) gave birth to premature and 231 pregnant women (% 90.6) to term babies. The average length of the cervix in the term group (36.346 mm) was significantly higher than the average length of the cervix in the preterm group (28.792 mm) (p=0.000). There were no differences between mean age of two groups (p>0.05). However, incidence of premature birth, abortion and multiparity were significantly higher in preterm group (p<0.05). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Today, neonatal mortality and morbidity have been reduced due to improvement6 in the conditions of neonatal intensive care unit nevertheless early diagnosis of preterm labor is extremely important in order to plan treatment. For this reason, many diagnostic parameters influential on preterm labor have been still investigated. In our study significant differences were detected between term and preterm groups as for cervical length measurements at 20-25. weeks. Our findings have supported increased reliabilty of cervical length measurements in the prediction of preterm delivery.

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