The significance of amniotic fluid interleukin-6 levels in preterm labour.

This study was performed to determine the prevalence of subclinical intraamniotic infection in patients with preterm labour and intact membranes, and to evaluate the significance of interleukin-6 levels for diagnosis and prognosis of tocolysis failure, amniocentesis-delivery interval and neonatal mortality and morbidity. Transabdominal amniocentesis was performed on 74 randomly-selected patients with preterm labour and intact membranes. The prevalence of amniotic fluid infection in this group was found to be 33.7% (25 of 74). The most sensitive test to identify the intraamniotic infection was found to be the measurement of interleukin-6 level. However the most specific test was confirmed to be Gram staining. Interleukin-6 level measurement was the best test to correlate with positive amniotic fluid culture and histological chorioamnionitis. Also, interleukin-6 level measurement had the advantage of predicting preterm delivery risk and neonatal complications compared to the other tests.