Prevention of preterm birth in patients with symptoms of preterm labor--the benefits of psychologic support.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of psychologic support against preterm delivery in pregnant women with symptoms of preterm labor. STUDY DESIGN The study, which involved two cohorts of women identified during two successive periods in the same maternity ward, included 309 women in the experimental group and 323 in the control group. The women in the control group were followed up according to the usual therapeutic procedures, whereas additional psychologic support was offered to the experimental group. The analysis, conducted "in intent to treat," was based on the estimation of the relative risk by a multivariate logistic regression adjusting for confounding factors. RESULTS A significant decrease in the preterm birth rate was observed in the experimental group (12.3%) compared with the control group (25.7%), with an adjusted relative risk of 0.37 (95% confidence interval 0.30 to 0.47). CONCLUSION This study confirms the feasibility of this kind of intervention and the effectiveness of psychologic support on the risk of preterm delivery.