Repeat digital cervical assessment in pregnancy for identifying women at risk of preterm labour

In high-income countries, routine digital cervical examination is not effective for identifying women at risk of preterm labour compared with no examination unless medically indicated.

A Cochrane review included 2 studies with a total of 7163 women. Systematic digital cervical examination vs no examination unless medically indicated showed no difference in preterm birth before 37 weeks 181/3102 vs 170/2968 (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.31; 2 trials, n=6070) The bigger high quality multicentric trial (n=5836) found no significant difference between the two treatment arms for the following outcomes: preterm birth before 34 weeks; preterm, prelabour rupture of membranes; hospital admission before 37 weeks; caesarean section; use of tocolytic drugs; low birthweight; very low birthweight, stillbirth, neonatal death, neonatal intensive care admissions; use of health services.

Ədəbiyyat

1. Alexander S, Boulvain M, Ceysens G, Haelterman E, Zhang WH. Repeat digital cervical assessment in pregnancy for identifying women at risk of preterm labour. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010 Jun 16;(6):CD005940.