Is there a relationship between cord blood pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A and birth weight and length?
BACKGROUND
Infants whose mothers had low serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in the first trimester were observed to have intrauterine growth retardation.


OBJECTIVE
Suggesting that PAPP-A plays an important role in the availability and activity of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), which affect growth, we aimed to investigate cord blood PAPP-A levels of infants with different birth lengths and weights. STUDY DESIGN AND OUTCOME MEASURES: The study included 97 full-term, live-birth neonates. After birth, their lengths and weights were measured. Cord blood PAPP-A levels were measured with an ultra sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).


RESULTS
There was a significant negative correlation between cord blood PAPP-A levels and birth weight (r=-0.23; P=0.023) and length (r=-0.24; P=0.016). Using the classification made according to their length, it was found that newborns with short lengths had significantly higher mean PAPP-A levels than neonates with normal and long lengths (P=0.022; P=0.002, respectively), whereas the difference between infants with normal lengths and infants with long lengths was not found to be statistically significant (P>0.05). On the other hand, there was a difference between the mean PAPP-A levels of the neonate groups classified according to weight; however, these differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that increased cord blood PAPP-A levels were associated with birth length and weight decreases; however, PAPP-A levels affected birth length more than birth weight.
Senses
Dursun A
DA
Abant Izzet Baysal University, Duzce School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Konuralp, Duzce, Turkey. sensesdali@yahoo.com
Coskun
Abdurrahman
A
Kiseli
Mine
M
Berberoglu
Murat
M
Kandemir
Omer
O
Yalvac
Serdar
S
Duran
Sadik
S
D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D047929:Term Birth / Q000097:blood*
D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A