Diagnostic property of cervical phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 in the prediction of preterm labor in symptomatic patients

Abstract

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 is a speciWc protein that is proposed for its clinical signiWcance role as a predictor for preterm labor in symptomatic patients. Altinkaya et al. recently published their interesting observation in Arch Gynecol Obstet that detection of this speciWc protein by was a rapid and easily applicable test that highly predicted preterm delivery [1]. However, the diagnostic property of the test for this protein is still a questionable concern in laboratory medicine. The wide range of sensitivity and speciWcity of the diagnostic property of cervical phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 in the prediction of preterm labor in symptomatic patients can be seen in the publications from diVerent settings (Table 1). Here, the author performed a summative analysis on the available reported papers in the literature to Wnd the overall sensitivity and speciWcity for cervical phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 in the prediction of preterm labor in symptomatic patients. A total of nine papers focusing on this aspect derived from database (PubMed and Scopus) search were included. The other papers on this topic which lacked complete data on diagnostic property were excluded. Of overall 566 cases, the derived overall sensitivity and speciWcity are 66.7 and 86.2%, respectively. Considering on the derived diagnostic property, it cannot be said that the cervical phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 is not good laboratory investigation in the prediction of preterm labor in symptomatic patients.