Melbourne researchers are to begin a major study that could result in a test to accurately predict if women will experience preterm labour during their pregnancy.

A new partnership between the Women’s, La Trobe University and three other Victorian public hospitals is giving pregnant Indigenous women greater access to “gold standard” maternity care.

Hormone releasing IUDs are more effective than the contraceptive pill and other medication for treating heavy or abnormal menstrual bleeding a review by Royal Women’s Hospital researchers has found.