Should women with preterm contractions but
without cervical change be treated?
Regular preterm contractions are common; however,
these contractions do not reliably predict which women
will have subsequent progressive cervical change (33).
In a study of 763 women who had unscheduled triage
visits for symptoms of preterm labor, only 18% gave
birth before 37 weeks of gestation and only 3% gave birth
within 2 weeks of presenting with symptoms (17). No evidence
exists to support the use of prophylactic tocolytic
therapy (34), home uterine activity monitoring, cerclage,
or narcotics to prevent preterm delivery in women with
contractions but no cervical change. Therefore, women
with preterm contractions without cervical change, especially
those with a cervical dilation of less than 2 cm,
generally should not be treated with tocolytics.