J Korean Med Sci.  2006 Jun;21(3):452-456. 10.3346/jkms.2006.21.3.452.

Maternal Serum and Amniotic Fluid Inhibin A Levels in Women who Subsequently Develop Severe Preeclampsia

Affiliations
  • 1Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Samsung Cheil Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. hmryu@yahoo.com
  • 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Cheil Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether maternal serum (MS) and amniotic fluid (AF) inhibin A levels are elevated in patients who subsequently develop severe preecalmpsia, and to investigate the correlation between MS and AF inhibin A levels in the second trimester. The study included 40 patients who subsequently developed severe preecalmpsia and 80 normal pregnant women. Inhibin A levels in MS and AF were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The MS and AF inhibin A levels in patients who developed severe preeclampsia were significantly higher than those in the control group (both for p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between MS and AF inhibin A levels in patients who developed severe preeclampsia (r=0.397, p=0.011), but not in the control group (r=0.185, p=0.126). The best cutoff values of MS and AF inhibin A levels for the prediction of severe preeclampsia were 427 pg/mL and 599 pg/mL, respectively; the estimated ORs that were associated with these cut-off values were 9.95 (95% CI 3.8-25.9, p<0.001) and 6.0 (95% CI 2.3-15.8, p<0.001). An elevated level of inhibin A in MS and AF at the time of second trimester amniocentesis may be a risk factor for the subsequent development of severe preeclampsia.

Keyword

Pre-Eclampsia; inhibin A; Biological Markers; Serum Marker; Maternal Serum; Amniotic Fluid

MeSH Terms

Risk Factors
Pregnancy Trimester, Second
Pregnancy Outcome
Pregnancy
Pre-Eclampsia/*blood/*metabolism
Middle Aged
Maternal Age
Inhibins/*biosynthesis/*blood
Humans
Gestational Age
Female
Case-Control Studies
Amniotic Fluid/*metabolism
Amniocentesis
Adult

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Levels of maternal serum (A) and amniotic fluid inhibin A (B) in normal pregnancy (NP) and patients with severe preeclampsia (SPE). *Statistically significant, p<0.05.

  • Fig. 2 Correlation between maternal serum and amniotic fluind inhibin A levels in the patients with severe preeclampsia.


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