WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for March, 2008: PREGNANCY: Cervix Length at Mid-Pregnancy May Predict C-Section Risk

PREGNANCY: Cervix Length at Mid-Pregnancy May Predict C-Section Risk

From: Hope Waltman (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:48:08 -0500 (CDT)

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Cervix Length at Mid-Pregnancy May Predict C-Section Risk Finding won't change practice, but could help illuminate labor process, experts say

"WEDNESDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- The length of a woman's cervix at mid-pregnancy may indicate her risk of needing a Caesarean birth, a new study suggests.

"Women having their first baby who have a long cervix around 23 weeks of pregnancy are more likely to be delivered by emergency Caesarean section during labor at term," the study's lead author, Dr. Gordon Smith, head of obstetrics and gynecology at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, said in a prepared statement.

But both Greene and Lorenz said the new study was impressive because of the large numbers of women included, and because it adds to scientists' understanding of what happens to a woman's body during pregnancy and delivery.

The study, published in the March 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, included almost 25,000 women who had their cervical length measured at 23 weeks of gestation using transvaginal ultrasound.

Caesarean rates were highest among those women with the longest cervix measurements. The women whose cervical measurements were between 40 and 67 millimeters long had a 25.7 percent C-section rate, compared to a 16 percent rate in those with the shortest cervical measurements -- 16 to 30 millimeters. C-section rates were 18 percent and 22 percent for the third and fourth quartile cervix measurements, respectively.

That translates to an 80 percent increased chance of a Caesarean section for a woman with the longest cervical measurements, according to the study.

"Studies in a number of species have suggested that the uterus prepares for labor well in advance of term. However, this is the first major study to suggest that the same is true in women," Smith said. "

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_62674.html

Regards, Hope Waltman, Fibroid Forum and WH Forum Moderator

http://www.hopeforfibroids.org http://www.doctorsinfoweb.com/doctors/whatsnew.htm http://www.obgyn.net/fibroid-resource-center/

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