The clinical utility of fetal fibronectin in the prediction of pre-term birth in a low socio-economic setting hospital in Ecuador.

Background: Pre-term birth is a world wide health problem, and although fetal fibronectin (fFN) testing has proven its clinical utility in developed countries, this remains to be determined in the developing world.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical utility of fFN in predicting pre-term birth in a low socio-economic, non-profit hospital setting.

Study Design: In this observational study, pregnant women < 37 completed weeks with symptoms suggestive of threatened pre-term labour (painful regular contractions and cervical modifications) were tested with the fFN test, admitted for management and subsequently followed up every 2 weeks until the end of gestation.