Antibiotics for the Prevention of Preterm Birth

Preterm birth is the greatest cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in the developed world. The cause of spontaneous preterm birth is multifactorial, but infection has been implicated in up to 40 percent of cases.1 Historically, the approach for preventing preterm birth has been to wait until a woman is admitted to the hospital in preterm labor before administering tocolytic agents. Making the association between infection and spontaneous preterm labor may be of little help once labor has begun, because by that time there may be irreversible changes in the cervix uteri that make attempts to reverse the process unsuccessful. . . .