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Rates of preterm delivery (the major cause of neonatal morbidity and death in the U.S.) have increased during each of the past 2 years; thus, a test to reliably identify women at risk for preterm delivery would be an important advance. In a prospective observational study, investigators assessed the utility of measuring vaginal placental alpha-microglobulin-1 (PAM-1) and cervicovaginal fetal fibronectin (FFN) to identify women at highest risk for preterm delivery among those presenting with symptoms of labor between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation (e.g., uterine contractions, lower abdominal pain, backache, vaginal bleeding).
Among 635 singleton gestations, 13 women had spontaneous preterm delivery within 7 days of study entry. Among these women,…