The clinical diagnosis of preterm labour that leads to delivery is notoriously challenging. Up to 80% of women who have signs and symptoms of preterm labour remain pregnant after 7 days.
A test called quantitative fetal Fibronectin (qfFN) may help improve diagnosis of preterm labour. The lower the concentration of fFN in the sample, the less likely preterm delivery is to occur. Currently, the fFN test which is part of standard care, provides a positive or negative result. The ability to measure the absolute amount of fibronectin is new and has the potential to more accurately rule out preterm labour.
The main aim of QUIDS, funded by NIHR HTA Programme, is to see if qfFN can accurately rule out spontaneous preterm delivery within 7 days of testing. We will use our findings to develop decision support tool, to help women and clinicians assess how likely preterm delivery is, and decide whether to start treatment or not.
We plan to recruit 1600 women who will be eligible to have the fFN test. We anticipate that recruitment will last 12 months and around 15 sites will be involved in the UK.
QUIDS is led by Dr Sarah Stock based at the University of Edinburgh.
Contacts
- CHaRT email; chart@abdn.ac.uk