title: Second-trimester maternal serum inhibin-A screening for fetal Down syndrome in Asian women.
abstract: Case control studies in the Caucasian population showed that maternal serum inhibin-A is elevated in Down syndrome pregnancies and may be a useful second-trimester marker in addition to human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Data in the Asian population are lacking. We measured inhibin-A levels in the stored maternal sera of 49 Down syndrome pregnancies and 341 controls with a commercially available assay and expressed them as the multiples of the median of the gestational week. The log means and standard deviations for case and control inhibin-A MOMs were 0.209, 0.226, and 0.002 and 0.177, respectively. Median inhibin-A MOM in Down syndrome cases was elevated to 1.62 (95 per cent confidence interval, 1.29-1.82). 36 per cent of Down syndrome cases were expected to be detected at a 5 per cent false-positive rate. However, inhibin-A MOMs were strongly correlated with hCG MOMs in the cases (r=0.73, p<0.001) and the controls (r=0.56, p<0.001). This will diminish the value of adding inhibin-A to the existing hCG and AFP screening protocol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong, Tsan Yuk Hospital, China. yhlam@hkucc.hku.hk
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000196:embryology; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007265:Inhibins / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D007265:Inhibins