Showing papers by "Béatrice Blondel published in 1995"

Did preterm deliveries continue to decrease in France in the 1980s

Abstract: Summary. To study the trends in gestational age and birthweight in France, we compared data from three surveys that were based on representative samples of births in 10 French regions and were conducted in 1972, 1981 and 1988-89. Only single livebirths were considered in the analysis. The rate of preterm births decreased from 7.9% in 1972 to 5.8% in 1981 and 4.0% in 1988-89. The corresponding rates of children with a birthweight below 2500 g were 5.4,4.3 and 4.7%. The mean birthweight of preterm babies born in 1988-89 was lower than the mean birthweight of those born in 1972 and 1981. The reduction in preterm births cannot be attributed to the improved accuracy of gestational age determination, but the general use of ultrasound may have played a major role in the apparent reduction of the mean birthweight of preterm babies.

Randomised controlled trial of routine cervical examinations in pregnancy

Abstract: Preterm delivery is strongly associated with neonatal mortality and morbidity. In some European countries, cervical examinations are used routinely during pregnancy to identify women at risk of preterm delivery. We sought to evaluate the efficacy and secondary effects of these routine cervical examinations. We did a randomised controlled trial in seven European countries, comparing two policies—namely, an attempt to do a cervical examination at every prenatal visit (2803 women) and avoidance of cervical examination if possible (2799). The median number of cervical examinations was 6 in the experimental group and 1 in the controls. There were 6·7% preterm (<37 weeks) deliveries in the experimental group and 6·4% in the control group (risk ratio 1·05 [95% confidence interval 0·85-1·29]; non-significant). The low birthweight rate was 6·6% in the experimental group and 7 7% in the controls (non-significant). Premature rupture of membranes was not significantly more frequent in the experimental group (27·1% vs 26·5%). Our findings do not support the routine use of cervical examinations during pregnancy.