Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention (2007)

Chapter: Section III Recommendations

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Previous Chapter: SECTION III Diagnosis and Treatment of Preterm Labor: 9 Diagnosis and Treatment of Conditions Leading to Spontaneous Preterm Birth
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Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
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Section III
Diagnosis and Treatment of Preterm Labor

RECOMMENDATIONS


Recommendation III-1: Improve methods for the identification and treatment of women at increased risk of preterm labor. Researchers should investigate ways to improve methods to identify and treat women with an increased risk of preterm labor.


Specifically:


  • The content and structure of prenatal care should include an assessment of the risk of preterm labor.

  • Improved methods for the identification of women at increased risk of preterm labor both before pregnancy and in the first and second trimesters are needed.

  • Combinations of known markers of preterm labor (e.g., a prior preterm birth, ethnicity, a short cervix, and biochemical and biophysical markers) and potential new markers (e.g., genetic markers) should be studied to allow the creation of an individualized composite assessment of risk.

  • More accurate methods are needed to

    • diagnose preterm labor,

    • assess fetal health to identify women and fetuses that are and that are not candidates for the arrest of labor, and

    • arrest labor.

Page 309 Cite
Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
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  • The success of perinatal care during preterm birth should be based primarily on perinatal morbidity and mortality rates as well as the rate of preterm birth, the numbers of infants born with low birth weights, or neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Page 310 Cite
Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
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Page 308 Cite
Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
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Page 308
Page 309 Cite
Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
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Page 309
Page 310 Cite
Suggested Citation: "Section III Recommendations ." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11622.
Save
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Page 310
Next Chapter: SECTION IV Consequences of Preterm Birth: 10 Mortality and Acute Complications in Preterm Infants
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