First trimester placental growth factor in maternal blood and placenta related disorders

Objective To describe and compare the placental growth factor levels at first trimester in patients that developed preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, IUGR and in those patients without impaired placentation diseases. Methods Observational study based on a prospective cohort of 422 pregnant women. PlGF values were compared between the different groups (preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), gestational hypertension or normal group-patients without impaired placentation diseases). Results The 85.3% (n = 360, 95% CI = 81.9-88.7) had a normal pregnancy, 7.6% (n = 32, 95% CI = 5.1-10.1) had preeclampsia, 3.8% (n = 16, 95% CI = 2.0-5.6) had IUGR and 3.3% (n = 14, 95% CI = 1.6-5.0) had gestational hypertension. The median level of PlGF for preeclampsia (0.76) and IUGR (0.75) were lower than gestational hypertension (0.82) and normal group (1.02). The groups of preeclampsia >34 weeks (0.76), preeclampsia <37 weeks (0.73), and preeclampsia >= 37 weeks (0.77), were significantly lower than the normal group. The sensitivity and specificity of PlGF for impaired placentation diseases is 65% and 64.9%, respectively. Conclusion It was found in this study that PlGF has significantly lower levels in gestational hypertension than normal pregnancies, in concordance with the other impaired placentation diseases. Additionally, a better comparison of the PlGF values was obtained when separating early onset of preeclampsia <37 weeks and late-onset of preeclampsia 37 >= weeks of gestations.

Automated summary

The study found that PlGF levels were significantly lower in patients with gestational hypertension and intrauterine growth restriction compared to those with normal pregnancies. Additionally, a better comparison of PlGF values was obtained when separating early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia groups.