الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Spontaneous preterm labor (SPTL) and preterm birth (PTB), is the single most important cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in high income countries despite the enormous efforts over the past several decades.
Preterm labor is defined as regular, painful, frequent uterine contractions causing a progressive effacement and dilatation of the cervix occurring before 37 completed weeks of gestation.
In order to deal with preterm labor properly, we should understand well the complex mechanisms surrounding preterm birth.
The etiology of preterm labor is not single; it is likely to be multifactorial, with genetic, infectious, nutritional, behavioral, and other environmental contributors. Infection is implicated as a significant and major cause accounting about 40% of all cases of SPTL and PTB.
Large number of problems may occur in preterm infants as a consequence of being delivered too early. Bacterial infections are the major cause of mortality and morbidity in preterm infants However; two problems are the most significant causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity in the preterm infants which are neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH).
Numerous methods have been implicated in order to predict preterm labor including scoring systems, uterine activity monitors, cervical ultrasound and several biochemical markers. However, all those methods are still poorly sensitive.
This case-control study was conducted on 300 subjects who were hospitalized between the dates July 2016 to June 2017 at Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Minia University.
Pregnant women were grouped into two. One third of these subjects (100) were selected from the cases who had preterm labor and the other were selected from the ones who had their labors at the expecte times.
A survey form was constituted including the factors that we consider as preterm labor risk factors. Survey questions were asked to the pregnant women in the first day after labor and the answers were evaluated.
These data were also recorded to the survey form and analyzed.
The present study found that:
Extreme of age , Polyhydraminos ,Oligohydraminos, +veHVS (infection), Threatened PTL, Preeclampsia ,Threatened abortion, IUGR, UTI, absent ANC, symptomatic lower GTI ,PROM, Reduced fetal movement have asignificant risk factor for preterm labour .