title: Decreased maternal serum placenta growth factor in early second trimester and preeclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare early second-trimester maternal serum placenta growth factor concentrations in patients with subsequent development of preeclampsia and those with normal pregnancies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a case-control analysis of stored maternal serum of 27 women who subsequently developed preeclampsia and 227 randomly selected normal controls during the gestational period of 14-19 weeks. Using such a sample size, there was a greater than 95% power to test a difference in the primary study interest. A quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay was used to measure the maternal serum placenta growth factor concentration. For statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney U tests, multiple linear regression analysis, multivariable logistic regression model, and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used. P <.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maternal serum placenta growth factor concentration was associated with the occurrence of subsequent preeclampsia (P <.001) and gestational age (P <.001). The median (interquartile range) of multiples (MoM) of the gestational age stratified median for placenta growth factor in preeclampsia was 0.55 (0.33, 0.85). The ROC curve revealed that the specificity was 70% when the diagnostic sensitivity was 70%, and the optimal cutoff value of placenta growth factor MoM was 0.76. The risk of developing preeclampsia subsequently was increased 2.5-fold for maternal serum placenta growth factor concentration decrements of 0.1 MoM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A decreased maternal serum placenta growth factor concentration in the early second trimester is highly associated with the subsequent development of preeclampsia, but a large prospective study is needed to explore its use as an early predictor for the condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Y N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Shau
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Hsieh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000608036:PGF protein, human; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor