Use of progesterone as a preventive medicine and nifedipine as a treatment of preterm labor

ABSTRACT

Preterm birth is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and occurs in 5% to 15% of all pregnancies. Therefore, its prevention is a major opportunity to reduce medical costs and to promote public health in all countries. Preterm birth is a broad great obstetric syndrome that arises from a wide variety of causes. Although many therapeutic agents are used for premature labor, most of them have serious maternal side effects, and they are ineffective in cases when labor has already begun. Therefore, the authors would like to introduce progesterone, as a treatment to prevent preterm labor. We also investigated whether nifedipine, which is used to treat preterm labor, could prevent preterm labor. We are eager to find more effective and easier-to-use drugs to prevent preterm labor in the future.