Prevention of preterm birth in high-risk patients: the role of education and provider contact versus home uterine monitoring.

Abstract

A total of 394 patients were enrolled in a study to assess the effectiveness of an educational preterm delivery prevention program and to determine whether the addition of home uterine monitoring to the program improved results in patients at high risk of preterm labor. Both the educational program and home uterine monitoring were found to increase the percentage of women with preterm labor who sought care while still favorable for long-term suppression, resulting in a decreased incidence of preterm births and improved outcome when compared with similar high-risk patients who did not participate in these programs. In a randomized, prospective study, addition of home uterine monitoring to the educational program was found to significantly improve outcome in twin gestations but not in singleton gestations. However, the number of singleton pregnancies was too small to rule out possible benefit from home uterine monitoring in that group.