Aim: This study aimed to determine whether a novel ultrasonographic marker, uterocervical angle, correlates with risk of spontaneous preterm birth.
Materials and Methods: In the present prospective, cohort, study, we included 197 singleton pregnant women at Ain shams university maternity hospital (outpatient obstetrics clinics and emergency department. The mean age of the included women was 27.2 ± 4.8 years while the mean party was 2.2 ±1.3. The mean BMI was 33.4 ± 2.6Kg/m2.
Results: In the present study, we found that there were statistically significant differences between both groups in terms of history of preterm labor (p <0.001) and tobacco smoking (p =0.008). Smokers and women with history of PTB had higher risk of PTB. In our report, there were statistically significant differences between both groups in terms of neonatal mortality. With regard to the primary outcome of the present study, we found that there was statistically significant difference between women with spontaneous preterm labor and women with term deliveries regarding UCA (p =0.015). Mean UCA in the second trimester was wider in the preterm group compared with the control group. The UCA was a significant discriminator of preterm labor. At cut-off value of ≥ 105, the GP37 yielded a sensitivity of 86.7% and specificity of 89% for the discrimination between preterm and term deliveries.
Conclusion: Wider UCA in the second trimester is related to spontaneous PTB. UCA measurement is a reproducible technique. UCA appears to increase from the first to the second trimester.