View clinical trials related to Preterm Birth.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to determine whether a daily executive training to cognitive inhibition, working memory or mindfulness as compared to an active control condition has a near- and far-transfer impact on brain and behavioral measures as collected in children aged 9-10 years, either born preterm or full-term.
Preterm delivery (PTD), together with low birthweight (LBW), is the leading cause of infant death and illness, affecting 500,000 births with annual medical costs of more than $26 billion in the U.S. each year. Identifying changeable risk factors to reduce PTD is considered a top research priority. Recent research has shown genital herpes infection (HSV) is associated with increased risks of PTD and LBW. More importantly, treating this infection, including infection with no symptoms, using readily available antiviral medications can be effective in removing the risk due to HSV. Thus, early identification and treatment of HSV in pregnant women could be an effective way to prevent PTD and LBW. Currently, many pregnant women with HSV infection, especially those with no symptoms, choose not to treat due to (a) a lack of demonstrated benefit of treatment and (b) general hesitance to use medications during pregnancy due to safety concerns for the fetus. Thus, emerging evidence of an increased risk of PTD/LBW associated with HSV infection, if untreated, and treatment effectiveness by anti-herpes medications has significantly changed current treatment paradigms among pregnant women. This evidence also provides new hope that effectively treating HSV infection among pregnant women, especially before the 3rd trimester, could lead to a new method to reduce PTD and LBW and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in these risks due to high rates of the infection in minority groups. To further examine the effectiveness of treating HSV in pregnant women to reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes, the investigators propose to conduct a prospective cohort study with a two-stage design combining the large pregnant women population (N=90,000) in Stage I identified through Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) electronic medical records (EMRs), with a Stage II sample to collect detailed information on additional factors that might muddle our understanding of this issue. This study will address the following: (1) Does treating HSV infection in pregnant women reduce the risk of PTD or LBW? (2) Does timing of the treatment during pregnancy influence treatment effectiveness? (3) Do other factors influence treatment effectiveness? and (4) Does HSV infection in pregnancy, if untreated, increase the risk of PTD and LBW, compared to no infection? Answers to these questions will be valuable to pregnant women and clinicians, and directly address their concerns when making treatment decisions
The purpose of this study is to explore a new method to stop preterm uterine contractions using an electrical device. The device, an "electrical pacemaker for the uterus," has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical research in pregnant women. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the device. The investigators hypothesize that human preterm uterine contractions can be safely and objectively inhibited with a weak electrical current provided by an electrical inhibition (EI)/uterine pacemaker device, and that this effect relates to the timing and length of EI exposure.
This study will evaluate the association of linear growth on neurobehavioural outcome in preterm neonates at 37 and 40 weeks of (CGA) corrected gestational age.
More than 1.5 million HIV-infected women become pregnant each year. Approximately half have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), but all are at increased risk of preterm birth (PTB). Vaginal progesterone (VP) is a promising and cost-effective intervention to prevent PTB that should be studied in this high-risk population. This pilot study will provide critical insight into the feasibility of a phase III trial by determining whether women are willing to participate, to adhere to study drug, and to complete follow-up.
Cervical insufficiency, previously referred to as cervical incompetence, has classically been defined as painless dilation of the cervix in the absence of contractions or bleeding in the second trimester resulting in recurrent pregnancy losses. Painless mid-trimester cervical dilation is an uncommon finding in the general population occurring in less than 1% of pregnancies. Cerclage for the prevention pregnancy loss in cases with both prior preterm births and/or second trimester losses, as well as second trimester cervical dilatation in the index pregnancy, was first reported in the 1950's. Cerclage placement in this setting has been variably referred to as "physical exam-indicated cerclage", "rescue cerclage", and "emergency cerclage". To date, the benefits of cerclage for this indication are not entirely clear. A recent meta-analysis showed that physical exam-indicated cerclage is associated with a reduction in perinatal mortality and prolongation of pregnancy when compared to no such cerclage. Recently, several RCTs have shown that cervical pessary could decrease the incidence of PTB in several populations. Thus, the aim of our trial as noninferiority trial is to evaluate the efficacy of pessary compared to cervical cerclage in prevention of PTB in women in the setting of mid-trimester cervical dilation
Preterm birth is the leading contributor to mortality among children younger than 5 years. One effective and inexpensive intervention is providing skin-to-skin care (STSC) whereby the mother of a preterm baby provides skin-to-skin contact to the newborn for at least a few hours, ideally every day. This intervention can make breastfeeding easier and can improve the health and development of the baby. Unfortunately, despite the large health benefits, mothers in low-resource communities are often unable to practice STSC due to a range of institutional and economic barriers. STSC requires substantial time and financial commitments from mothers; they must travel from home each day to the hospital to engage in STSC and provide expressed breast milk. Low-income women with access only to limited federally provided unpaid family leave may have to choose between returning to work while their baby is in the NICU and being able to stay at home with their newborn after discharge from the NICU. Families of preterm infants also face direct financial costs of practicing STSC and breastfeeding (such as fees for parking and childcare for older children). This trial aims to examine the impact of providing additional support to low-income mothers of babies born preterm in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts to help them provide STSC. Half of the participants will be randomized to receive an additional financial support intervention while their infant is in the NICU. The study will examine how this intervention impacts mothers' health behavior while their child is in the NICU and up to three months after. Most of the current and past policy efforts to increase STSC have focused on the delivery of STSC at hospitals, focusing on supply-side related challenges such as the lack of trained and informed staff. However, interventions that focus exclusively on hospitals are unlikely to be sufficient for low-income women if there are significant opportunity costs or transportation costs to simply being present at the hospital. This study aims to provide more evidence to determine whether removing these financial barriers has the potential to mitigate the poor outcomes of preterm babies born to lower socioeconomic status households.
Pregnant African American women between 18 and 45 years of age will be enrolled at 20 weeks of gestation or less. Biological specimens (vaginal swabs, rectal swab) will be collected at enrollment, 23-24 weeks, at 28-29 weeks, and at the onset of labor. A urine sample will be obtained at entry and at the time of delivery for metabolomic analysis. Participants will also collect a dietary survey at entry, 23-24 weeks, and 28-29 weeks. The biological specimens will then be analyzed for their microbiomial profile. This will then be correlated with the timing of their delivery as well as other comorbidities such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.
Preterm birth (PTB) is a major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Worldwide, about 15 million babies are born too soon every year, causing 1.1 million deaths, as well as short- and long-term disability in countless survivors. Few prognostic tests are available to predict PTB. A short transvaginal ultrasound cervical length (TVU CL) has been shown to be a good predictor of PTB.Different strategies have been adopted for prevention of PTB. The evidence supports the use of vaginal progesterone in singleton pregnancies with short cervix, while cervical cerclage seems to be beneficial only in the subgroup of singleton gestations with both prior spontaneous PTB and TVU CL ≤25mm, and not in singletons without prior PTB, nor in multiple gestations. However, so far there are no level-1 data on the efficacy of TVU CL screening neither in low risk nor in high risk pregnancy Thus, we aim to assess the efficacy of a policy of TVU CL screening in singleton pregnancy without prior spontaneous PTB
Preterm birth (PTB) is the major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Worldwide, about 15 million babies are born too soon every year, causing 1.1 million deaths, as well as short- and long-term disability in countless survivors. Few prognostic tests are available to predict PTB. A short transvaginal ultrasound cervical length (TVU CL) has been shown to be a good predictor of PTB.Different strategies have been adopted for prevention of PTB. The evidence supports the use of vaginal progesterone in singleton pregnancies with short cervix, while cervical cerclage seems to be beneficial only in the subgroup of singleton gestations with both prior spontaneous PTB and TVU CL ≤25mm, and not in singletons without prior PTB, nor in multiple gestations. However, so far there are no level-1 data on the efficacy of TVU CL screening neither in low risk nor in high risk pregnancy Thus, the investigators aim to assess the efficacy of a policy of TVU CL screening in singleton pregnancy with prior spontaneous PTB