Hormone shots could cut preterm births - US study

Weekly injections for pregnant women of a drug derived from the hormone progesterone could have prevented nearly 10,000 premature births in 2002, a team of researchers reports in the February issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The researchers based their projection on a study using a hormone derivative known as 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate or 17P for short. Although researchers are not quite sure how it prevents early delivery, some studies had suggested it may help. The 2003 U.S. government study of 450 pregnant women showed it reduced preterm births -- before 37 weeks -- by a third.

Joann Petrini and colleagues from the March of Dimes charity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and other centers estimated that in 2002, about 30,000 women who had premature babies may have been helped by use of 17P. If a third of them also carried to term, that would translate to 10,000 prevented premature births, the researchers said. "Prematurity is a serious problem that affects 1 in 8 babies in the United States, and 17P offers promise in an area where there have been few successes," Petrini said in a statement. Courtesy of Reuters 1/31/05

Bonnie - It does not have to be progesterone injections - best to use natural suppositories or progesterone cream.