RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF ROUTINE CERVICAL EXAMINATIONS IN PREGNANCY

Preterm delivery is strongly associated with neonatal mortality and mo rbidity. In some European countries, cervical examinations are used ro utinely during pregnancy to identify women at risk of preterm delivery . We sought to evaluate the efficacy and secondary effects of these ro utine cervical examinations. We did a randomised controlled trial in s even European countries, comparing two policies-namely, an attempt to do a cervical examination at every prenatal visit (2803 women) and avo idance of cervical examination if possible (2799). The median number o f cervical examinations was 6 in the experimental group and 1 in the c ontrols. There were 6.7% preterm (<37 weeks) deliveries in the experim ental group and 6.4% in the control group (risk ratio 1.05 [95% confid ence interval 0.85-1.29]; non-significant). The low birthweight rate w as 6.6% in the experimental group and 7.7% in the controls (non-signif icant), Premature rupture of membranes was not significantly more freq uent in the experimental group (27.1% vs 26.5%). Our findings do not s upport the routine use of cervical examinations during pregnancy.