Maternal age is an important determinant of pregnancy outcome and women aged 35 years and above undergoing their first pregnancy are often classified as high risk obstetric patients. The objective of this study was to determine the birth outcome in some women going through their first pregnancy at 35 years and above compared with their younger counter parts aged 20-34 years. A ten year retrospe...

The accuracy rates of 3 diagnostic methods, namely pH determination, fern test and nile blue sulphate (NBS) staining, in the evaluation of women with prolonged premature rupture of fetal membranes (PRM), were investigated in a prospective study. Two hundred and sixty-two women, divided into control and test groups, were examined. A total of 1725 tests were performed. The results indicate that t...

BACKGROUND In Japan, the proportion of women aged 35 and older giving birth has greatly increased in recent years, and maternal age is continuing to increase. Advanced maternal age is a risk factor for abnormal delivery, as is hiesho (sensitivity to cold). RESEARCH QUESTION This study aimed to assess whether advanced maternal age and hiesho precipitate premature delivery, premature rupture of...

Recent studies in animals have suggested that antenatally administered steroids may accelerate fetal lung maturation and prevent the development of respiratory distress following premature delivery [7, 13, 16, 18, 21, 23]. Further studies in human pregnancies complicated by premature rupture of the amniotic membranes [l, 3, 4,19, 24], in trauterine growth retardation [6], or maternal heroin add...