| ■ Test Predicts Onset of Preterm Labor | 2008.12.22 |
| A test that predicts whether premature birth is imminent if a woman's water breaks early in pregnancy has been identified by Swedish researchers. In such cases, there's a strong link between high levels of lactate in vaginal fluid and onset of labor within 48 hours, said the researchers, who assessed the test in 86 women with single pregnancies of 20 to 36 weeks gestation, BBC News reported. The study found that 87 percent of the 23 women with high lactate concentrations had spontaneous labor within 48 hours, compared with 5 percent of the 58 women with low lactate concentrations. Among women with high lactate concentrations, the average time between examination of labor onset was 13.6 hours, compared with 48 days for those with low lactate levels, BBC News reported. The study about the "Lac-test" appears in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. |