الفهرس 
Epidemiology of Preterm LaborOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Preterm birth is the strongest cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality; furthermore , the sequel of preterm birth, for those infants who survive, often cause life long disabilities. Long physical and mental impairment is surely one of the greatest tragedies that can beset a person ,his or her family, society, and even the economics of the world (Cunningham et al.,1993)
Preterm labor and delivery, before 37 weeks of gestation, is the major cause of prenatal morbidity and mortality in the developed countries and is the single most important complication of pregnancy in absence of congenital anomalies (Creasy,1993).
Morrison et al.,1993 reported that 50% of women who have false labor pain eventually deliver preterm . The differentiation between false and true labor is very difficult because the only absolute differentiating factor is in the true one , the contractions that lead to irreversible progressive cervical changes and delivery.
Differentiating true from false labor is very important as preterm delivery remain one of the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality (Morrison et al., 1996) . There is increasing evidence that preterm delivery is preceded by significant changes in the biologic activity of chorionic and decidual cells (Lockwood et al., 1993) .