Multicenter randomized clinical trial of home uterine activity monitoring: Pregnancy outcomes for all women randomized,☆☆,,★★

Presented in part at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society of Perinatal Obstetricians, San Francisco, California, January 28 - February 2, 1991.
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to evaluate the impact of home uterine activity monitoring on pregnancy outcomes among women at high risk for preterm labor and delivery. STUDY DESIGN: Women at high risk for preterm labor at three centers were randomly assigned to receive high-risk prenatal care alone (not monitored) or to receive the same care with twice-daily home uterine activity monitoring without increased nursing support (monitored). There were 339 women with singleton gestations randomized with caregivers blinded to group assignment. The two groups were medically and demographically similar at entry into the study. RESULTS: Women in the monitored group had prolonged pregnancy survival (p = 0.02) and were less likely to experience a preterm delivery (relative risk 0.59; p = 0.04). Infants born to monitored women with singleton gestations were less likely to be of low birth weight (<2500 gm; relative risk 0.47, p = 0.003), and were less likely to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (relative risk 0.5, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: These data show, among women with singleton gestations at high risk for preterm delivery, that the use of home uterine activity monitoring alone, without additional intensive nursing care, results in improved pregnancy outcomes, including prolonged gestation, decreased risk for preterm delivery, larger-birth-weight infants, and a decreased need for neonatal intensive care. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1996;175:1281-5.)

Keywords

Home uterine activity monitoring
preterm birth

Cited by (0)

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Truman Medical Center, University of Missouri-Kansas City; the Perinatal Center, Health Science Center at Syracuse, State University of New York; the University of Illinois Hospital; and the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

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Supported by Matria Healthcare, Marietta, Georgia.

Reprint requests: Michael J. Corwin, MD, Boston Medical Center, Maternity 2, 818 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02118.

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0002-9378/94 $5.00 + 0 6/1/75583