New Technique Developed for the Prediction of Preterm Birth Risk

The UIC Nursing researchers predicted that performing an ultrasound exam could be used as a noninvasive measurement of changes in the cervix, before delivery of a baby. Premature birth accounts for 75% of abnormalities in babies, and, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cost the US healthcare system more than USD 26 billion in 2005.

The study was published in the journal Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. In the study 67 African-American women underwent a total of 240 ultrasound exams to determine cervical length and signal attenuation. The study focused on the pregnancy periods between 17 and 21 weeks, and between 22 and 26 weeks. Ultrasounds exams for the 17 to 21 weeks gestation period showed significant changes in attenuation for women who later delivered prematurely, and those that carried their fetuses for the full term. Cervical length differences between the two groups were not significant. All of the women had a cervical length of more than 2.5 cm.

Research leader Barbara McFarlin, associate professor and head of women, child and family health science, said: "Cervical length assessment has become a widely used clinical measure for identifying women at high-risk for preterm birth. The risk of premature birth is greater in women with a short cervix than [in] women with a longer cervix. As the cervix changes from a firm to a supple, soft structure, estimates of attenuation from an ultrasound can provide clinicians with early tissue-based information, rather than waiting for symptoms of preterm birth. In the future, this can be a feature added to clinical ultrasound systems."

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