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Uterine electrical activity and cervical shortening in the midtrimester of pregnancy
Author(s) -
Grgic Ozren,
Matijevic Ratko
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2008.04.022
Subject(s) - medicine , asymptomatic , pregnancy , ultrasound , obstetrics , gynecology , population , uterus , surgery , radiology , genetics , environmental health , biology
Objective: To determine whether a correlation exists between increased uterine electrical activity and cervical length (CL) in the midtrimester of pregnancy. Method: In this case‐control study, 312 asymptomatic nulliparous women underwent both uterine electromyographic assessment and ultrasound CL measurement between the 16th and 23rd weeks of a singleton pregnancy. The outcome measure was the difference in ultrasound CL measurement between the women found to have uterine action potentials on electromyography and those who did not. Results: Action potentials were detected in 66 (21.1%) of the 312 women; and compared with the remainder of the study population, cervical length was significantly shorter in these women (35.7 ± 8.9 mm vs 38.8 ± 7.9 mm; P < 0.01 by the Mann‐Whitney test). Conclusion: Ultrasound CL measurement in the midtrimester was significantly shorter in women with increased uterine electrical activity.