title: Prognostic value of human placental lactogen (HPL) in an unselected obstetrical population.
abstract: A prospective study on the value of routine HPL determination as a supplement to clinical antenatal care is presented. The HPL values in the apparently normal pregnant women were not known to the clinicians. The material comprised 1 660 pregnancies and deliveries, in 87% of which at least one HPL value was available. The results are expressed as the ability of a low HPL value to predict the birth of a distressed infant and/or an infant of low birth weight, a normal HPL value the birth of a non-distressed infant and/or an infant of normal birth weight. Moreover, the results show has many of the distressed infants and infants of low birth weight were born to mothers with low HPL values. Like a number of other authors, we found that HPL screening increases the prognostic reliability in pregnancies with complications. On the other hand, its value in normal pregnancies could not be confirmed.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010928:Placental Lactogen / Q000032:analysis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D010928:Placental Lactogen