Loading...
The rate of prematurity (birth before 37 weeks of gestation) continues to increase in the U.S., in part because of assisted fertilization. Preventing prematurity, particularly birth before 34 weeks, has been the subject of intensive research.
In a multisite, randomized, double-blind clinical trial, investigators used transvaginal ultrasound to screen 24,620 women at 20 to 25 weeks of gestation; 413 women with a cervical length of less than 15 mm received vaginal progesterone (200 mg at night) or placebo from 24 to 34 weeks of gestation. Women who received progesterone were significantly less likely than women in the placebo group to deliver an infant before 34 weeks of gestation (19.2% vs. 34.4%).
In another multisite, randomized, double-blin…