Comparison of VEGF-A levels in women with threatened abortion, early pregnancy loss and uncomplicated healthy pregnancies

Abstract

IntroductionTo estimate the possible role of VEGF-A in predicting poor early pregnancy outcomes including threatened abortion and early pregnancy loss. MethodsWe conducted a prospective case-control study with three groups of pregnant women diagnosed with threatened abortion, early pregnancy loss, and uncomplicated healthy pregnancies between 01 March 2023 and 15 March 2023. Maternal serum VEGF-A concentration was measured using the Sandwich-ELISA method in accordance to the commercial kit's instructions. There were 30 patients in each 3 group and the gestational age of the patients was between 6 and 14 weeks. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed for comparing the median values between the groups. Mann-Whitney U test was conducted for pairwise comparisons. ResultsVEGF-A levels were compared between 3 groups and a statistically significant difference was found (p = 0.007). There was a moderately significant correlation between VEGF-A levels and poor early pregnancy outcomes. For poor early pregnancy outcomes, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.64–0.85). The best balance of sensitivity/specificity in ROC curves was 0.60 (63.3% sensitivity, 74.3% specificity). DiscussionIn conclusion, this study pointed out the increased VEGF concentrations in pregnant women with threatened miscarriage and early pregnancy loss.VEGF-A may be a potential biomarker for the indication of poor early pregnancy outcomes.