Role of Maternal Serum Human Placental Lactogen in First Trimester Screening

The objectives of this study was to measure and correlate maternal serum hPL with free β hCG, maternal age, maternal age related risk ratio and calculated risk ratio of first trimester screen ing. After obtaining permission from the Institutional Ethics Committee, hPL and free β hCG were measured from the serum of 84 pregnant women aged 20–40 years in 11–13th weeks + 6 days of gestation who underwent dual test during their antenatal check-up. Independent t test, Pearson’s co rrelation, Spearman’s correlation, Mann–Whitney U test, ANOVA were used wherever appropriate. A significant positive correlation between maternal serum hPL, maternal age related aneuploidy risk ratio (p value  <  0.001) and aneuploidy risk ratio at the time of delivery (p value  <  0.001) was observed. Also maternal age was negatively correlated with maternal serum hPL (p value  <  0.001) and positively correlated with maternal serum free β hCG (p value 0.023). A significant negative correlation between maternal serum hPL and free β hCG (p value  <  0.001) was found. To conclude low level of maternal serum hPL in advanced maternal age may reflect decreased functional syncytiotrophoblast mass which may predispose to adverse pregnancy outcome. As chance of baby born with chromosomal anomaly is known to increase with advancing maternal age, hPL may have role in first trimester screening.
Source: Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research