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Daily uterine activity monitoring has been reported to be helpful in improving the
percentage of women with preterm labor eligible for tocolysis, with a corresponding
decline in preterm delivery. The first year of our trial of ambulatory tocodynamometry
in 157 women at risk of preterm labor did not reveal significant differences in rates
of preterm labor and preterm delivery between two groups of women randomly assigned
to receive preterm labor education, frequent (5 days/week) telephone contact, and
self-palpation of uterine activity (group EP), or to preterm labor education, daily
telephone contact, and the Term Guard ambulatory uterine activity monitor (group EM).
We report results from the second year (n = 152), yielding a total study population
of 309. Forty-three subjects were later excluded, producing 266 subjects who completed
the study. Comparison of preterm labor and preterm delivery rates, mean birth weight,
and gestational age at delivery revealed no significant differences between the groups
for the second year or for the combined data from both years of the study. Interestingly,
comparison of all subjects enrolled in year 1 with all those enrolled in year 2 reveals
significant decreases in the rates of both preterm labor and preterm delivery. Frequent
attention to symptoms and signs of preterm labor, and improved patient and physician
education and awareness, may be responsible for this decline in preterm labor and
delivery in high-risk pregnancies. (AM J OBsTET GYNECOL 1988;159:595-603.)
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References
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Article Info
Footnotes
Supported by a grant from The Tokos Medical Corporation and by March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Grant No. 2-187/C-185.
Presented at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Society of Perinatal Obstetricians, Las Vegas, Nevada, February 4–6, 1988.
Reprints not available.
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Copyright
© 1988 C. V. Mosby Company. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
