الفهرس 
PRETERM LABOUR
Maternal characteristicsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Preterm birth, defined as childbirth occurring at less than 37 completed weeks or 259 days of gestation, is a major determinant of neonatal mortality and morbidity and has long-term adverse consequences for health (Huddy et al., 2001).
Estimation of preterm birth rates and ideally, their proper categorization (e.g. spontaneous versus indicated) are essential for accurate determination of global incidence in order to inform policy and programmes on interventions to reduce the risk of premature labour and delivery (Pannel et al., 2007).
Preterm labour is the single most important complication of pregnancy in the absence of congenital abnormality, as it is recognized as a worldwide problem responsible for more than 80% of neonatal deaths and more than 50% of long-term morbidity in the surviving infants (Goldenberg et al., 2008). That is why early identification is essential to allow for the earliest intervention possible.
Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a cytokine-inducible
inflammatory acute-phase reactant whose plasma concentrations can exceed 1 mg/l during an acute-phase response. It is also associated with inflammatory response highly similar to erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C reactive protein.Our study is a case-control study conducted in Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital from May 2017 – December 2017 on 58 pregnant women to investigate the association between serum amyloid A in pregnancies complicated with preterm labor.
The results point out that that there is no statistically significant difference between two groups in gravidity and parity while there is statistical difference between preterm labor patients and controls according to the history of previous abortions.
There were significant positive correlations between SAA and different main outcomes as in NICU admission.
There is a statistically significant difference between preterm labor patients and controls in SAA level as median of SAA in controls was 1.2 (0.0 – 2.5) mg/l while in PTL was 5.1 (4.5 – 7.7) mg/l and that difference was statistically significant.
For prediction of PTL using SAA, SAA had excellent predictive value. For prediction of NICU admission using SAA, SAA had fair predictive value. For prediction of neonatal death using SAA, SAA had poor predictive value.