Background: The percentage of preterm births in Germany
is high at 9%, but stable. 77% of cases of perinatal death
are in prematurely born infants. Intensive research efforts
are being directed toward the development of new means
of primary and secondary prevention, diagnostic assessment,
and pharmacotherapy of premature labor.
Methods: We review pertinent publications that were retrieved
by a selective search of the literature from 1966 to
2012, including current meta-analyses from the Cochrane
database and the guidelines of German and foreign obstetric
societies.