The Role of Urogenital Infections in Spontaneous Preterm Birth

Abstract

Abstract Spontaneous preterm birth (PB) results from labor that occurs at 22 to 36 weeks and 6 days (154- 259 days) of gestation. The frequency of PB is 5-18% of all births. Objective: our study aims to determine the role of urogenital infections in spontaneous PB occurrence. Methods: 102 pregnant women aged 22-45 years participated in the study, 90 of which developed premature birth (22-36.6 weeks gestation, spontaneous pregnancy group) and 12 with normal birth (at 38-41 week-gestation). The patients were evaluated regarding their anamnesis (gynecological diseases, history of previous pregnancies, age and gestation), presence of urogenital infections (via expanded polymerase-chain reaction testing – PCR), inflammatory changes in the uteroplacental complex (histological evaluation), and compared results between the two groups. Results: conditionally pathogenic flora was detected in the uterus of every second patient with spontaneous PB, uterine body dysbiosis was seen three times more often, bacterial vaginosis was seen 11 times more often in PB group than the control group. Utero-placental complex inflammatory changes were detected in 36-50% of patients with spontaneous PB and were accompanied by chronic placental insufficiency, confirmed both pathomorphologically and via protein metabolism assessment. Conclusions: our results support the assumption that urogenital infections play a role in the development of spontaneous PB.