She acknowledged that a larger study would have enabled more precise determination of the timing of the rise in proinflammatory cytokines. Also, serial blood sampling before and throughout pregnancy would be necessary to rule out baseline differences between groups in inflammatory reactivity.
"Since our study design cannot delineate whether inflammation is the primary stimulus for labor or instead a signal downstream of some other primary trigger or triggers, future research will focus on exploring the temporal sequence of events leading to the initiation of labor at term," Dr. Unal concluded. "We are also very interested in investigating whether or not maternal inflammatory markers influence or predict labor performance and outcome."
Dr. Unal did not report any relevant financial disclosures.