Study finds progesterone cuts rate of some premature births

The results of the study from the National Institutes of Health are “another really important step in reducing rates of preterm birth,” said Dr. George Macones, a spokesman for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists who was not involved in the research.

But Macones noted “we still have a long way to go” to prevent preterm birth outside of the relatively small subset of high-risk women included in the study.

Of the women who were given progesterone, 8.9 percent gave birth before the 33rd week of pregnancy, compared with 16 percent of the placebo group. Babies born before week 37 are considered premature.

A short cervix can be detected with a transvaginal ultrasound — an exam that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of internal organs. Now that doctors have a way to prevent women with a short cervix from giving birth early, they should consider screening all pregnant women for the condition, Hassan said.

The maker of the Prochieve gel, Columbia Laboratories, and its marketing partner Watson Pharmaceuticals plan to apply to the federal Food and Drug Administration for approval of this new application of the drug later this year. A similar progesterone gel made by Columbia sells for $10 to $12 a dose, but it isn’t clear how much Prochieve might cost.

Rates of respiratory distress syndrome also were lower in infants whose mothers received progesterone during pregnancy — 3 percent vs. 8 percent.