Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36871557›Full record

SynthesisBJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology2023

Diagnosis or prognosis? An umbrella review of mid-trimester cervical length and spontaneous preterm birth.

Kelly Hughes, Heather Ford, Shakila Thangaratinam, Shaun Brennecke, Ben W Mol, Rui Wang

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Predictive Value of Cervical Length Measurement Combined With Shear Wave Elastography Parameters for Preterm Birth: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Kelly HughesDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3790-7741
Heather FordDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Shakila ThangaratinamWHO Collaborating Centre for Women's Health, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-4254-460X
Shaun BrenneckeDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3070-6971
Ben W MolDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-8337-550X
Rui WangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6622-8134

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council GNT1146590
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCervical length is widely used to assess a woman's risk of spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB).

objectivesTo summarise and critically appraise the evidence from systematic reviews on the prognostic capacity of transvaginal sonographic cervical length in the second trimester in asymptomatic women with singleton or twin pregnancy. SEARCH STRATEGY: Searches were performed in Medline, Embase, CINAHL and grey literature from 1 January 1995 to 6 July 2021, including keywords 'cervical length', 'preterm birth', 'obstetric labour, premature', 'review' and others, without language restriction. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included systematic reviews including women who did not receive treatments to reduce SPTB risk. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: From 2472 articles, 14 systematic reviews were included. Summary statistics were independently extracted by two reviewers, tabulated and analysed descriptively. The ROBIS tool was used to evaluate risk of bias of included systematic reviews. MAIN

resultsTwelve reviews performed meta-analyses: two were reported as systematic reviews of prognostic factor studies, ten used diagnostic test accuracy methodology. Ten systematic reviews were at high or unclear risk of bias. Meta-analyses reported up to 80 combinations of cervical length, gestational age at measurement and definition of preterm birth. Cervical length was consistently associated with SPTB, with a likelihood ratio for a positive test of 1.70-142.

conclusionsThe ability of cervical length to predict SPTB is a prognostic research question; systematic reviews typically analysed diagnostic test accuracy. Individual participant data meta-analysis using prognostic factor research methods is recommended to better quantify how well transvaginal ultrasonographic cervical length can predict SPTB.

Indexed as

Premature BirthCervical Length MeasurementCervix UteriFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornPregnancyPregnancy Trimester, SecondPregnancy, TwinPrognosiscervical lengthpreterm birthprognosissystematic reviewultrasonography

Identifiers

PMID36871557
PMCPMC10953024

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.