• G Saccone, B Simonetti, and V Berghella.
• Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, School of Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
• BJOG. 2016 Jan 1; 123 (1): 16-22.

BackgroundThe possibility to predict the delivery date is a question frequently raised by pregnant women. However, a clinician has currently little to predict when a woman at term will deliver.ObjectiveTo evaluate the predictive accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) cervical length (CL) for spontaneous onset of labour in singleton gestation enrolled at term by a meta-analysis.Search StrategyWe performed a literature search in electronic databases.Selection CriteriaWe included only studies assessing the accuracy of TVU CL in prediction of spontaneous onset of labour in singleton gestations with vertex presentation who were enrolled at term.Data Collection And AnalysisThe primary outcome was the accuracy of CL for prediction of spontaneous labour within 7 days. Pooled sensitivities and specificities were calculated.Main ResultsFive studies including 735 singleton gestations were included. For the prediction of spontaneous labour within 7 days for CL <30 mm the pooled sensitivity was 64% and pooled specificity was 60%. The higher the CL, the better the sensitivity; the lower the CL, the better the specificity. A woman with a singleton gestation at term and a TVU CL of 30 mm has a <50% chance of delivering within 7 days, while one with a TVU CL of 10 mm has an over 85% chance of delivery within 7 days.ConclusionsTVU CL at term has moderate value in predicting the onset of spontaneous labour. A woman with a TVU CL of 10 mm or less has a high chance of delivering within a week.Tweetable AbstractCervical length at term has moderate value in predicting the onset of spontaneous labour.© 2015 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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