VOLUME 12 , ISSUE 5 ( September-October, 2020 ) > List of Articles
Hemprabha Gupta, Parul Sinha, Kshama Tiwari
Citation Information : Gupta H, Sinha P, Tiwari K. Prediction of Preterm Birth on the Basis of Complete Blood Count Parameters. J South Asian Feder Obs Gynae 2020; 12 (5):288-290.
DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10006-1820
License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Published Online: 01-03-2021
Copyright Statement: Copyright © 2020; The Author(s).
Objective: Preterm labor (PL) is the onset of labor pains before 37 weeks and it eventually leads to preterm birth. Preterm birth accounts for 75% of perinatal mortality and more than half the long-term morbidity.1 Various studies have been done on the ratios of blood cell subtypes like neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) to find out if they can be used as a predictor for diseases in which chronic low-grade inflammation is involved. Inflammation is one of the components in the initiation of PL, so markers of inflammation can be used as a potential predictor of PL. We aimed to study if any association exists between PL and the various blood cell subtypes like NLR, LMR, and PLR in a group of women who were hospitalized with the diagnosis of PL. Materials and methods: A total of 80 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. Forty cases who were admitted in the maternity ward with the diagnosis of PL and 40 gestational age-matched controls who came for routine antenatal care. The cases were further followed and divided into two groups according to gestational age at which they delivered, i.e., pregnant with PL who delivered <37 weeks and pregnant with PL who delivered at ≥37 weeks. The sociodemographic profile and the biochemical parameters of all the groups were compared. Results: The study showed that the neutrophils were significantly elevated in pregnant women with PL and lymphocytes reduced. However, the ratios like NLR, LMR, and PLR were not found to be significantly raised in pregnant women with PL when compared with control. Conclusion: Although we found a significant elevation of neutrophils and a significant reduction of lymphocytes in our study but to use these blood count parameters as a predictor of PL needs more validation. Further measurement of the ratio of subtypes of blood cells like NLR, LMR, and PLR was comparable in both cases and controls.