title: Maternal serum inhibin levels in second-trimester Down's syndrome pregnancies.
abstract: Maternal serum inhibin levels were measured in 19 second-trimester pregnancies affected by fetal Down's syndrome and 95 unaffected control pregnancies matched for gestational age. A statistically significant elevation was found in the affected pregnancies compared with the controls (Wilcoxon rank sum test: one-tail P = 0.02). The median level in the cases was 1.3 times that in the controls, with 95 per cent confidence limits of 0.9-1.9. Although the inhibin levels were unrelated to those of alpha-fetoprotein and unconjugated oestriol in the same samples, there was a statistically significant correlation with human chorionic gonadotropin. This together with the relatively small elevation in cases suggests that inhibin would be of limited value in maternal screening for Down's syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Leeds, U.K.
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Cuckle
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holding
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004964:Estriol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007265:Inhibins / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D007265:Inhibins; D004964:Estriol