Maternal serum free beta-hCG levels in uncomplicated pregnancies at the 10th-15th week of gestation and the development of obstetric complications.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) serum levels at the 10th-14th week of gestation were different in groups of women who had experienced pregnancy complications.


METHODS
The obstetric records of women who had uncomplicated pregnancies when they consented to donate blood for biochemical research purposes early in pregnancy were reviewed. Two hundred thirteen of these women had donated blood at the 10th-14th week of gestation. Of these, 135 had uneventful pregnancies and delivered at term, 19 delivered before 37 weeks'gestation, 10 had fetuses small for gestational age, 4 developed pregnancy-induced hypertension, 7 developed gestational diabetes, 10 aborted spontaneously, 4 had an intrauterine fetal death after 20 weeks' gestation, and 24 were lost to follow-up. After the clinical groups had been identified, the 213 maternal serum stored samples were thawed and free beta-hCG measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. After normalization of the data, ANOVA was used to compare mean gestational age and mean free beta-hCG levels within groups.


RESULTS
The overall mean gestational age at maternal blood sampling was 12.5 weeks. All groups had similar gestational ages at blood sampling (P = .18). The overall mean free beta-hCG serum level was 18.05 mIU/mL. Only the group of women who went on to experience spontaneous abortions had significantly lower free beta-hCG lev- els (mean, 10.45 mIU/mL; P < .03)


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that of the groups with obstetric complications evaluated, only the group of women who experienced spontaneous abortions had significantly different serum levels of free beta-hCG at the 10th-14th week of gestation.
De León
Juan
J
Division of Reproductive Genetics, Fetal Medicine and Ultrasound, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo, 79106, USA.
Sifuentes
George
G
Hopkins
Cullen
C
Noble
Vivian
V
Gimpel
Terry
T
Myles
Thomas
T
Santolaya-Forgas
Joaquin
J
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / Q000097:blood*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First / Q000097:blood*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods
D015415:Biomarkers; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human