Latency of 96 hours was adopted as a criterion for the study because the median maternal blood levels of various inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-6, G-CSF, CRP, and WBC) were significantly higher in the HCA group than in the non-HCA group for up to the 3 days preceding delivery in women with PPROM [41, 73, 74] and the number of PPROM women who delivered within 72 hours after plasma sampling was too small in our dataset to warrant analysis. The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is preterm premature rupture of the membranes.