This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Preterm delivery is a mojor public health problem with a significant impact on perinatal morbidity and mortality. Preterm infants currently constitute approximately 10% of live births and account for 50-70% of neonatal morbidity and mortality. This substantial public health problem has increased despite technological and medical advances over the past 30 years. Several different lines of evidence have suggested but not established a genetic contribution. The possibility of genes that cause or predispose to preterm labor holds tremendous protential for improving the management of preterm labor in the future. The overall goal of this protocol is to determine whether familial prematurity syndromes exist and if so to establish their genetic basis. We will evaluate mothers delivering preterm for the segregation of preterm delivery traits in their family and estimate the prevalence of inherited forms of preterm delivery. We will subsequently establish a linked epidemiologic and biologic repository that can be used for genomic scan and compare cases and controls to see if there are conditions associate with familial preterm delivery syndromes