First-trimester maternal placental protein 13 levels in pregnancies resulting in adverse outcomes

Background In a previous study, reduced levels of maternal serum placental protein 13 (PP13) in the first trimester have been correlated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The objective of this study was to compare first-trimester PP13 levels in control pregnancies with pregnancies resulting in one or more of the following adverse outcomes: intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), small and very small (3rd, 5th, 10th centile) for gestational age (SGA), low (< 1.5 and < 2.5 kg) birth weight (LBW), macrosomia (the > 90th centile), large birth weight (> 4.5 kg), preterm (35-36 weeks) and very early (< 34 weeks) delivery (PTD), and intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD). Methods Maternal serum samples from 1940, 11 to 14 weeks singleton pregnancies, were assayed for PP13 and the concentrations were corrected for gestational age, maternal weight, smoking status, and ethnic origin. A comparison of the levels of PP13 in 364 controls and 1576 adverse outcome categories was made. PP13 levels were expressed in terms of both concentration and multiple of medians (MoMs). Results Comparison of PP 13 MoMs from SGA, PTD, and low birth weight samples with control pregnancy samples showed no statistically significant difference. In macrosomic pregnancies (> 90th centile), levels of PP13 were significantly higher than controls (p = 0.0263) although the number of cases in this study was small. Conclusion Decreased levels of PP13 were not significantly correlated with the studied adverse pregnancy outcomes of IUGR, PTD low birth weight, and IUFD. Further studies are required to evaluate if measurement of PP13 has any value in the early assessment of pregnancies. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.