Familial Preterm Birth Clinic

Cincinnati Children’s offers preterm birth prevention consultations in the Familial Preterm Birth Program. We will provide a one-time comprehensive outpatient consultation to women at high risk of preterm birth before becoming pregnant or early in pregnancy (less than 24 weeks).

Our primary focus is to see women with a heightened risk of preterm birth, such as women with a prior preterm birth or a history of preterm birth in close family members. We are especially interested in working with women who have experienced a preterm birth despite using currently available preventive measures.

For optimal planning to prevent subsequent preterm birth, we encourage women who have experienced a prior spontaneous preterm birth − less than 37 weeks − to schedule a preconception consult in our clinic.

In addition, women who are currently pregnant and at high risk of spontaneous preterm birth are welcome to be referred for consultation.

Our Services

We will perform or provide:

• Detailed family, gynecologic, obstetric and medical histories
• Environmental exposure and social determinant assessments
• Recommendations for laboratory and imaging studies for either preconception planning or for screening and management of ongoing pregnancy
• Education around modifiable risk factors and currently available preventive therapeutic strategies
• Recommendations regarding screening tests, interventions and management of subsequent pregnancies (We will specifically evaluate the use of progesterone supplementation, cerclage placement and other best practice guidelines.)
• Opportunity to participate in new research aimed to understand the causes of preterm birth and development of new preventative strategies

The Outpatient Clinic

Patients will be counseled on their specific risk factors as well as new preventative strategies with recommendations provided to families and their obstetric providers.

The clinic is part of the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s. Doctors at the clinic are:

• Emily DeFranco, DO, MS, assistant professor maternal-fetal medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• Michael Marcotte, MD, maternal-fetal medicine and director of quality for maternal services at TriHealth, the largest obstetric provider in Ohio
• Louis J. Muglia, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth

The clinic will take place the first Monday morning of each month for a half day in the Cincinnati Fetal Care Center space on the Cincinnati Children’s main campus.