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| Courtesy: CDC |
More exciting
news from the pregnancy meeting, SMFM 2017, Las Vegas. Researchers have identified
that maternal cervicovaginal (CV) flora plays an important role in timing of delivery, it could increase or prevent the risk of Spontaneous
Preterm Births (SPTB).
The study abstract was presented on January 26,2017 at the meeting and won the March of Dimes award for best abstract on prematurity.
This was a
nested study of a large project called as “Motherhood and the Microbiome” that
was funded by National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). This is a large
observational, prospective study of women with a term birth undergoing follow
up for Preterm Births.
Dr. Elovitz,
professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania, vice
chair of Translational Research and Director of the Maternal and Child Health
Research Center at PENN University and his colleagues worked on the hypothesis
that preterm birth occurs because of some changes at molecular, anatomical and
microbial level in the cervicovaginal space that are different in women who
have a SPTB vs. women who deliver at term.
The study
recruited about 1500 patients and collected cervicovaginal specimens at 3 time
points throughout pregnancy. From this larger pool of participants, 80 cases
with SPTB and 320 term controls were matched and analyzed. 16S rRNA gene
analyses was used to identify bacterial specimens.
Additionally,
in 616 patients single sample was collected to serve as validation.
Presence of Bifidobacterium
species in the cervicovaginal space was highly protective for SPTB at all time
while BV-associated bacteria (BVABs) and Mobiluncus were associated with
statistically significant rise in SPTBs. (p<0.0001).
Edward R.B.
McCabe, MD, PhD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the March
of Dimes said “From these data, we may learn how to prevent preterm birth
either by eliminating the CV bacteria that are associated with an increased
risk and/or by enhancing the presence of protective bacteria. This is a
promising new area that should become a research priority.”
