Research Article Can Preterm Labour Be Predicted in Low Risk Pregnancies? Role of Clinical, Sonographic, and Biochemical Markers

Copyright © 2014 Reva Tripathi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background andObjectives.This is a prospective nested cohort study conducted over a period of 3 years. 2644womenwere recruited, out of which final analysis was done for 1884 women. Methods. Cervicovaginal and blood samples were collected for all recruited women. Out of these, 137 women who delivered before 35 weeks were treated as cases and equal number of matched controls were chosen. Analysis of samples for serum G-CSF, AFP, ferritin, and cervicovaginal interleukin-6 and IGFBP-1 was done. Results. Poor orodental hygiene, which can be a social marker, was significantly more common in women who delivered preterm