title: Maternal serum activin-A at 30-33 weeks in the prediction of preeclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the potential value of maternal serum concentration of activin-A at 30-33 weeks' gestation in the prediction of preeclampsia (PE) developing at or after 34 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum concentrations of activin-A were measured at 11-13 and at 30-33 weeks' gestation in a case-control study of 50 cases that developed PE and 250 unaffected controls. The measured values of activin-A were converted into multiples of the unaffected median (MoM), after adjustment for maternal characteristics, and the MoM values in the PE and controls were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median activin-A MoM at 30-33 weeks was higher in the PE group (1.47, IQR 1.14-2.38 versus 0.99, IQR 0.72-1.42), but at 11-13 weeks there was no significant difference between the groups. In screening by a combination of maternal characteristics and activin-A at 30-33 weeks the detection rate of PE was 50.0%, at a false positive rate of 10%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Screening by maternal characteristics and activin-A at 30-33 weeks could identify half of the pregnancies that will subsequently develop PE.
authors.affiliation: Harris Birthright Research Centre of Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinas
authors.forename: Argyro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Syngelaki
authors.forename: Leona C Y
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Kypros H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Nicolaides
mesh_terms: D028341:Activins / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C422405:activin A; D028341:Activins