الفهرس 
Sole creases in preterm and termOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Preterm birth (before 37 completed weeks of gestation) is a major cause of [postnatal] death and a significant cause of long-term loss of human potential. There is a substantial long-term health impact from preterm birth due to increased risk both of death and of developing a wide range of chronic physical and neurological disabilities compared to full term births. Approximately 70-95% of neonatal deaths, 36% of infant deaths, and 25-50% of cases of long-term neurologic impairment in children can be attributed to preterm birth. The percentage of under-five deaths from preterm birth complications is still high in Egypt and our country is ranked as 144 worst on the list of 162 countries with prematurity related deaths comprising about 28.5% of all under-5 deaths in Egypt.
The mechanisms for preterm labor are still unclear. It could be associated either with a premature activation of the physiological contracting process or with a pathological factor responsible for uterine contractions, leading to preterm delivery.
C reactive protein(CRP) is one of the plasma protein known as acute-phase protein, proteins whose plasma concentration increase (or
decrease) by 25% or more during inflammatory disorder. Serum CRP are
good predictor for preterm delivery. Raised CRP level (>8mg/dl) in early
pregnancy in the absence of any medical/surgical or obstetric
complication can predict high likelihood of preterm labor
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) serum levels in early pregnancy with increased risk of preterm labor.
An observational study involved (100) pregnant women registered in department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ashmoun general hospital. This study comprised of pregnant women aged between (18-35 years) according to their enrolment in the antenatal clinic. The study period will extend from October 2016 to October 2017. These patients are prospectively followed for the gestational age at delivery which is correlated with the serum quantitative C-reactive protein levels measured at first antenatal visit between (5-20 weeks) of gestation by NycoCard.
All subjects included in the study were subjected to:
• Complete history taking: Present history, Obstetric history, Past history.
• Abdominal examination: Fundal level, fundal grip, umbilical grip and pelvic grips.
• Pelvic examination: to assess the cervical dilatation, effacement, bishop score, exclusion of rupture of membranes by sterile speculum examination in women with true labor pain .
• Clinical assessment: of frequency, strength and duration of uterine contractions by cardiotocography .
• Abdominal ultrasound: for confirmation of gestational age, fetal viability, number and presentation.
• Vaginal ultrasound: for assessment of the cervical length at 16-20 weeks .
• Laboratory investigations: including complete blood picture, liver and kidney function tests, fasting and postprandial blood glucose level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and complete urine analysis.