Retrospective 3yr analysis of High Risk Preterm Labour Clinic Patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Spontaneous Preterm Birth without Evidence of a Short Cervix: a Retrospective 3 Year Analysis of High Risk Preterm Labour Clinic Patients
IRAS ID
130006
Contact name
Angharad Care
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Preterm birth (PTB) refers to all births below 37weeks and is the biggest cause of illness and death of newborn babies. Those identified as high-risk for PTB include women who have previously had a birth less than 34 weeks of pregnancy or a preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) less than 34 weeks of pregnancy (waters around baby breaking too early). We currently invite women at high-risk for preterm labour (PTL) to our ’PTL clinic’. In their subsequent pregnancy we scan the length of their cervix at this clinic. Women with a short cervix are at increased risk of PTB or PPROM and we offer a treatment to maintain cervical length, reducing the likelihood of preterm labour. From a service evaluation patient database we identified that some women who are screened with cervical length measurement are considered to have a long cervix yet subsequently go on to deliver preterm. The aim of this research is to identify risk factors predicting subsequent spontaneous PTB or PPROM in this cohort of women with a previous history of spontaneous PTB and a cervical length ≥ 25mm. Data will be analysed from our existing clinic database used for service evaluation. We will compare data of women with a long cervix that delivered preterm to women with a long cervix delivering at term. Ideally we would find a clinical marker that will help stratify risk and assist in identification and clinical management of high-risk women. If we do not find a difference between these groups it may highlight a need for better screening techniques to identify women at risk of preterm birth.
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0473
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion