INTRODUCTION
PRETERM BIRTH, PRETERM BIRTH, PRETERM DELIVERY, PREMATURE BIRTHS
Preterm birth affects one in ten births worldwide, and the pursuit of a reduction in this incidence remains one of the major challenges of medicine Among the interventions to prevent preterm birth, progesterone is a widely used treatment to reduce preterm delivery, with few side effects and good adherence After the EPPPIC study, the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reaffirmed the prophylactic use of progesterone in singleton pregnancy women with a cervix length ≤ 25 mm diagnosed between 18 0/7 and 22 6/7 weeks of gestation In the world ranking of preterm birth, Brazil is in ninth position in absolute numbers and with 11.2% of preterm births, being directly responsible for 2.2% of all preterm births in the world In this sense, the objective of this study is to evaluate whether there is an economic benefit in the implementation of a cervical length screening program during pregnancy, followed by prophylactic treatment with vaginal progesterone of women then identified with a higher risk, compared to the costs associated with premature births, if not screened.