BMJ  2006;332:1094 (6 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7549.1094-b

Letter

Preterm delivery in primiparous women at low risk

Could epidemic chlamydia contribute to rise in preterm births?

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—The rise in preterm births described in Denmark would give cause for concern, in terms of long term health consequences, in any country.1 One risk factor that is not described in this study is infection with chlamydia,2 which is rising rapidly among young women in urban areas of the United Kingdom.

Given that most affected patients are unaware of their infection, and that specialist screening and treatment facilities are not easily accessible for most populations, could this be the "invisible" factor driving higher rates of premature babies, among "low risk" mothers?

Woody Caan, professor of public health

nglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ a.w.caan@anglia.ac.uk

Competing interests: WC is supervising a community research project on chlamydia.

  1. Langhoff-Roos J, Kesmodel U, Jacobsson B, Rasmussen S, Vogel I. Spontaneous preterm delivery in primiparous women at low risk in Denmark: population based study. BMJ 2006;332: 937-9. (22 April.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Caan W. Implications for the economic evaluation of other screening programmes eg for chlamydia [electronic response to Kiss et al. Prospective randomised controlled trial of an infection screening programme to reduce the rate of preterm delivery]. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/329/7462/371#69924 (5 August 2004).

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Relevant Article

Spontaneous preterm delivery in primiparous women at low risk in Denmark: population based study
Jens Langhoff-Roos, Ulrik Kesmodel, Bo Jacobsson, Steen Rasmussen, and Ida Vogel
BMJ 2006 332: 937-939. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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