Fetal fibronectin status and cervical length in women with threatened preterm labor and the effectiveness of maintenance tocolysis

Roos, C
Vis, Jolande Y.
Scheepers, Hubertina C. J.
Bloemenkamp, Kitty
Duvekot, Hans J. J.
van Eyck, J.
de Groot, CJM
Kok, Joke H.
Opmeer, B. C.
Oudijk, Martijn A.
Papatsonis, Dimitri
Porath, Martina
Sollie, K.M.
Spaanderman, Marc E. A.
Lotgering, Fred K.
Van der Post, Joris A. M.
Mol, Ben Willem

Publication date

January 2016

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect of maintenance tocolysis in women who are at high or low risk for preterm delivery according to fetal fibronectin (fFN) status and cervical length (CL). Study design: We compared the risk of preterm delivery in fFN pos and fFN neg women and in women with a CL <15 mm and ≥15 mm, by using the Cox regression. Differences between the effectiveness of maintenance tocolysis in high- and low-risk women were assessed by using an interaction term. Results: 122 fFN tests were taken, of which 50 were fFN pos. CL was measured in 236 women, of whom 52 women had a CL <15 mm. The median gestational age at delivery was lower in fFN pos women; fFN pos women had a higher hazard for preterm delivery at any point of time (HR 4.7...