Mom's cervical bacteria may be key to preventing preterm birth

Presence of bacteria in a woman's vagina and cervix may either increase the risk of premature birth or have a protective effect against it, a new study has found.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland in the US studied 2,000 pregnant women, taking vaginal swabs at three distinct time points in pregnancy and performed analyses on the specimens to determine the microbial colonies that were present.
They found that the presence of many bacteria actually conferred a lower risk of spontaneous preterm birth while other bacteria were associated with a significant increased risk.
The bacteria associated with spontaneous preterm birth, in conferring either protection or risk, were different between African-American and other women.

Premature birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is the leading cause of death in children under age five around the world.
Babies who survive an early birth often face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, jaundice, vision loss, cerebral palsy and intellectual delays.

In addition to the human toll, preterm birth accounts for more than USD 26 billion annually in avoidable medical and societal costs, according to the National Academy of Medicine.
Doctors have been frustrated by the lack of treatments that reliably prevent premature birth, said Michal Elovitz, professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Furthermore, clinicians currently have no good screening test to determine which women are at highest risk for preterm birth, Elovitz said.

Researchers decided to study whether the initiation of preterm birth might begin in the cervicovaginal space, specifically leading to early changes in the cervix.
"We started with the hypothesis that there is some difference in the molecular, biological, biochemical and/or microbial events in cervicovaginal space in women who ultimately have a premature birth compared to women who ultimately have a full term baby," Elovitz said.
Researchers were able to target one part of this hypothesis by studying the cervicovaginal microbial communities in a large prospective cohort of pregnant women.
"We are very excited to report that we did find significant differences in the microbial communities early in pregnancy in women who ultimately have a preterm birth compared to a term birth," Elovitz said.

"Different bacterial species were associated with quite a dramatic increased risk of premature birth. If our study is confirmed, it could mean that targeting CV bacteria may be a new therapy to prevent premature birth in the immediate future," she said.