Premature labour — how does it start?
| Location: | Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Developmental and Reproductive Biology, London. |
|---|---|
| Amount: | £135,316 |
| Status: | Research completed |
| Start Date: | 1st January 2003 |
| Finish Date: | 31st December 2005 |
| Grantholder: | Dr M R Johnson PhD, MRCP, MRCOG and Professor P R Bennett BSc, PhD, MD, FRCOG. |
Preterm labour occurs in 7 — 10% of deliveries and around 50,000 babies are born preterm every year. 1,500 of these babies will die because they were premature and many more will go on to have cerebral palsy, long term breathing problems, developmental delay and other disabilities.
During pregnancy, the hormone progesterone stops the womb from contracting. This study is to find out how labour starts despite no fall in progesterone. The results should increase our understanding of preterm labour and help develop treatments to prevent it.
50,000 babies are born preterm each year
