Doctors develop simple blood test for detecting a women's propensity for preterm labor

Doctors develop simple blood test for detecting a women's propensity for preterm labor | Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Melissa Layton carried her first baby full term and delivered her second three weeks early. She was particularly anxious about the third, as doctors couldn't give her a straight answer about how long he'd be inside the womb.

"It was just scary waiting in the unknown," she said. Lucky for her, both early babies came without defect and have gone on to be perfectly healthy children.


While Layton's children turned out fine, many premature babies end up battling medical complications throughout their lives, which is a major risk associated with preterm labor.

Nationally, 1 in 8 babies, or 12 percent, are born prematurely. It is the leading cause of illness and death associated with newborns, according to researchers with locally based Sera Prognostics, which is working to develop a simple blood test that could help to predict preterm births.

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