MATERNAL PLASMA AND AMNIOTIC-FLUID CORTISOL AND PROGESTERONE CONCENTRATIONS BETWEEN WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT TERM LABOR - A COMPARISON

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to determine the amnio tic fluid and maternal plasma concentrations of cortisol and progester one in nonlaboring women at term and to compare them to those in women with active labor at term. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective, cross-section al study. Soroka Medical center of Kupat Holim, Faculty of Health Scie nces, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Thirty-f ive healthy women with normal term pregnancies were classified accordi ng to labor status into two groups: group A (16 women with spontaneous , active labor at term) and group B (19 women not in labor). RESULTS: We found a significant increase in the median concentration of plasma cortisol in women at term in active labor in comparison to those not i n labor. In addition, the median concentration of cortisol in amniotic fluid in women in labor was also significantly higher than that in wo men not in labor. In contrast, no significant changes in median matern al plasma or amniotic fluid progesterone concentrations were detected between the groups. CONCLUSION: Human parturition is associated with a significant increase in the concentration of cortisol in both materna l plasma and amniotic fluid. These findings suggest that cortisol play s an important but still-undetermined role in human parturition.