ABSTRACT
Care of women with preterm labor has been reported by Katz et al1 to be enhanced by use of an electronic uterine contraction monitor. We enrolled 76
women with singleton gestations who had been successfully treated for preterm labor
into a prospective randomized trial, assigning subjects in a ratio of 1:2 to a group
of 27 receiving education and self-palpation (EP) or to a group of 49 receiving education
and an ambulatory monitor (EM). Subjects in both groups received an intensive education
session at entry and were contacted frequently (5 days/week in EP and daily in EM)
thereafter to report symptoms and frequency of contractions. Physicians were advised
to adjust the dosage of oral tocolytic to maintain fewer than four contractions per
hour. Rates of recurrent preterm labor and preterm delivery did not differ between
the groups. Although the sample size in this study is too small to exclude entirely
the possibility of alpha error, our inability to demonstrate a difference suggests
that the improvement reported by others in pregnancy outcome associated with use of
an electronic ambulatory contraction monitor may be the result of daily attention
to symptoms and signs of preterm labor.
