Trace biomarkers associated with spontaneous preterm birth from the maternal serum metabolome of asymptomatic nulliparous women - parallel case-control studies from the SCOPE cohort.

Prediction of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) in asymptomatic women remains a great challenge; accurate and reproducible screening tools are still not available in clinical practice. We aimed to investigate whether the maternal serum metabolome together with clinical factors could be used to identify asymptomatic women at risk of sPTB. We conducted two case-control studies using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyse maternal serum samples collected at 15- and 20-weeks' gestation from 164 nulliparous women from Cork, and 157 from Auckland.

Metabolite Profile of Cervicovaginal Fluids from Early Pregnancy Is Not Predictive of Spontaneous Preterm Birth.

In our study, we used a mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach to search for biomarkers that may act as early indicators of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB). Samples were selected as a nested case-control study from the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) biobank in Auckland, New Zealand. Cervicovaginal swabs were collected at 20 weeks from women who were originally assessed as being at low risk of sPTB.