A Study of the Association of Early Pregnancy Serum Levels of Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A with Adverse Pregnancy Outcome

Abstract

Background: Decreased levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in maternal serum can be a marker not only for some chromosomal disorders and anomalies in the fetus but also specific for adverse pregnancy outcomes too, such as preeclampsia, spontaneous preterm birth, gestational diabetes, and fetal growth restriction (FGR) and to the extent of stillbirth. Hence, measurement of early pregnancy PAPP-A levels may help identify the areas of intervention for reducing the adverse outcome in later gestations. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study. A total of 250 antenatal cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were taken in the study. Early pregnancy serum levels of PAPP-A were measured for antenatal cases visiting outpatient department of tertiary level teaching hospital between 10 and 14 weeks period of gestation, and these cases were followed up for development of adverse pregnancy outcome. Results: Two hundred and thirty-five patients had normal outcomes, among which 24 patients had PAPP-A values ≤0.4 multiples of the median (MoM) and 211 patients had PAPP-A level >0.4 MoM. Twenty-nine patients out of 250 in our study group had PAPP-A level <0.4 MoM, 1 patient developed preeclampsia (P = 0.211) but underwent normal vaginal delivery at term, and 1 had FGR (P = 0.513). Three patients had preterm delivery and the PAPP-A values in preterm group were lower as compared to term group, and this result was statistically significant (P = 0.005). Conclusion: The study concludes that the patients with low early pregnancy PAPP-A levels may be deemed to develop preterm labor subsequently and effective measures may be taken to prevent the same. However, it would be prudent to replicate the study in a wider and more representative sample over multiple centers to see if the results hold true.