SHORT PAPER Maternal Serum and Cervicovaginal IL-6 in Patients with Symptoms of Preterm Labor

Background: Preterm birth is a common problem in obstetrics. Objective: To measure maternal serum interleukin-6 in mothers with preterm uterine contractions and compare it with cervicovaginal interleukin-6 in the same women. Methods: In this crosssectional study, we measured interleukin-6 in the sera and cervicovaginal fluids of 86 women with preterm uterine contractions. All participants had an intact membrane. Interleukin-6 was measured by using ELISA method. Statistical analysis was done using U-Mann Whitney, Chi-Square and Kendall’s tests. Results: The mean and median (Quartile25, Quartile75) of interleukin-6 in cervicovaginal fluid were higher than maternal serum interleukin-6. There was a statistically significant difference in the median of interleukin-6 in sera and cervicovaginal fluid (P<0.0001). There was no significant correlation between serum and cervicovaginal interleukin-6 (r=0.048, p=0.548). There was no significant correlation between serum and cervicovaginal interleukin-6 (r=0.048, p=0.548). Conclusion: We found no relationship between serum interleukin-6 and preterm labor and the maternal serum Interleukin-6 does not seem to be a suitable biomarker for predicting preterm delivery.