Relationship between Preterm Labor and Thrombophilic Gene Polymorphism: A Prospective Sequential Cohort Study

Objective: Premature labor is still the leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Multiple etiological factors including genetics and environment are held responsible for preterm birth. However, scientific data regarding the link between premature birth and genetics are limited. Subjects and Methods: In this study, we included 50 women who had premature labor (group 1) but did not have any known risks for a premature delivery such as uterine anomaly, polyhydramnios, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus, and another 50 healthy women who had term labor as control (group 2). We compared these two patient groups for MTHFR C677T, MTHFR C1298T, prothrombin 20210A, factor V and ACE polymorphisms. Results: We could not detect a statistical significance between groups for polymorphisms in MTHFR C677T, MTHFR C1298T, prothrombin 20210A, factor V and ACE polymorphisms. Conclusion: We investigated the relationship between premature and term labor and thrombophilic gene polymorphism. However, we found no associations with premature or term labor with the parameters included. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel