Gerard H. A. Visser of the University Medical Centre in the Netherlands says that cervical-length measurement screening could help prevent pre-term births (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Pre-term births are the leading cause of global under-5 child mortality, as well as short- and long-term morbiditiessuch as sepsis, retinopathy of prematurity, and neurodevelopment impairment, DrJane Hirst of Oxford University said at a conference held recently in Ho Chi Minh City.
Hirst and her colleagues, including doctors at Tu Du Hospital in HCM City, carried out a study on pre-term births from October 2016to October 2018 to update biomarkers for premature births.
Prematurity is an important cause of morbidity and mortalityin Vietnam, Hirst said at the 19th Vietnam-France-Asia-Pacific Conference onObstetrics and Gynecology.
“Prevention is a priority, but predicting which women willdeliver pre-term remains challenging,” she added.
An effective biomarker would focus ante-natal care on thoseat greatest risk of pre-term birth and facilitate development of novelinterventions, Hirst said.
However, pre-term birth is a highly heterogeneous syndromecharacterised by multiple phenotypes and associated risk factors.
Classification schemes based simply on gestational age atbirth ignore this clinical complexity, which may explain why finding effectiveprevention strategies has been so difficult, according to Hirst.
Gerard H. A. Visser of the University Medical Centre in theNetherlands said that identification of women with a short cervical length ataround 20 weeks of gestation and treatment of these women with eitherprogesterone or pessary may reduce premature births and improve prenataloutcomes.
“Overall, this may lead to a reduction of 80 percent ofpre-term deliveries,” Visser said.
“It might be wise to study first your populationcharacteristics; the incidences of a short cervix, which is the most appropriatecut-off level for high or low risk regarding pre-term birth; and how many womenneed to be screened to prevent one pre-term birth. These studies will helpdetermine the need for implementation of cervical length screening programme,”he said.
Dr Ha Manh Tuan of HCM City University of Medicine andPharmacy said the World Health Organisation reported 5 million pre-term birthsevery year, of which 1.1 million babies die from pre-term birth complications.
However, 80 percent of pre-term babies survive withessential neonatal care, while 75 percent of death of pre-term births can beprevented, WHO said.
Dr Nguyen Van Cuong of Frieslandcampina Vietnam, whoseFriso brand is one of the main sponsors for the conference, said that propernutrition for premature babies would increase the rate of survival and qualityof life.
“With proper nutrition, these babies’ growth will be thesame as those from pre-term births,” Cuong said.
The two-day conference is an important annual medical forumreceiving support as well as companionship of globally recognised experts, withmore than 50 lectures presented by domestic and foreign professors, doctors,and experts from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics,Oxford University and Utrecht University of the Netherlands, among others.
It aims to improve reproductive healthcare quality throughsessions on prevention of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus,prenatal diagnosis and management of morbidly adherent placenta, management ofspecific complications in monochorionic twin pregnancies, gynecologic oncologyin pregnancy, progress in prenatal care, and assisted reproductive technology.
The forum followed Tu Du Hospital’s mission of exchangingtechniques with local healthcare facilities.-VNS/VNA
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