A study by William J. Hueston, M.D., at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School of Medicine, concludes:
"Women presenting at community hospitals with preterm contractions but no evidence of labor are overtreated frequently with agents of equivocal benefit, whereas those who have active labors and deliver are not receiving agents such as steroids or antibiotics that have been shown to benefit outcomes." (Obstetrical Gynecology 1998, Vol. 92, pp. 38-42).
Hueston's study involved 239 women treated at community hospitals within a 60-mile radius of Eau Claire, Wis. He found only 17 percent had cervical changes with their contractions. (Cervical change is considered a sign of genuine preterm labor.) However, tocolytics were prescribed in 76 percent of the cases where no cervical changes had occurred, versus 61 percent of the cases where cervical changes had indeed occurred. Among women who were discharged from the hospital, 54 percent of those with cervical change received a tocolytic, versus 62 percent who received a tocolytic who had no evidence of cervical change.
In reviewing the records of women who delivered before or at 34 weeks, Hueston found that just 26 percent had received antibiotics to prevent group B streptococcal disease in their babies. Likewise, only 33 percent of this same group of women had received corticosteroids to mature fetal lungs.
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