Association of Low Levels of Placental Growth Factor and Fetal Growth Restriction in a Setting With a High Prevalence of Diabetes [ID 2683431

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Placental growth factor (PlGF) is a glycosylated protein from the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family that is involved in placental angiogenesis. In cases of placental dysfunction, decreased maternal serum PlGF levels predict the development of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction (FGR), and stillbirth. METHODS: Datasets from 114 high-risk patients who had clinical indication for PlGF testing from 2021 to 2023 were collected retrospectively. The anonymized dataset comprises PlGF test results categorized by gestational age-specific ranges and FGR categorized by percentile. Chi-squared analysis of 114 patients was used to assess the association between PlGF levels and FGR (less than 10th percentile). This study was approved by REb-USask #Bio3702. RESULTS: Of the 114 patients, 21 (18.4%) with low/very low PlGF and 8 (7.1%) with borderline/normal PlGF had fetuses with FGR less than 10th percentile. There was a significant difference between groups with a low/very low PlGF and normal PlGF levels (P<.001). The negative predictive value (NPV) for development of FGR less than 10% was 97.54%. CONCLUSION: Data collection is ongoing; however, in our patient population with a high prevalence of diabetes, preliminary data from 114 patients suggest that gestational age-stratified maternal serum PlGF levels have high NPV value for development of FGR less than 10th percentile. The implementation of this simple laboratory test in rural and remote communities would allow for earlier identification of pregnancies that require more intensive surveillance at a high-risk center of care.