Association of maternal serum progesterone in early pregnancy with low birth weight and other adverse pregnancy outcomes.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of serum progesterone in first trimester with low birth weight (LBW, birth weight <2500 g) and other adverse pregnancy outcomes including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm delivery, premature rupture of membranes at term, and preterm premature rupture of membranes in a general population.


METHODS
We conducted a cohort study of 263 women with low-risk singleton intrauterine pregnancies who had a spot serum progesterone measurement in the first trimester in a Singapore tertiary maternity hospital. Study outcomes were retrieved from clinical records. Follow-up data were available for 131 women. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association of low serum progesterone (<35 nmol/L) with LBW and other adverse pregnancy outcomes.


RESULTS
Low serum progesterone was associated with a significantly increased risk of LBW (adjusted odds ratio: 5.28 [1.02, 27.3]; p=0.047). Low serum progesterone was associated with a significantly increased risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in univariate analysis (unadjusted odds ratio: 8.43 [1.31, 54.2]; p=0.025).


CONCLUSIONS
Low serum progesterone in the first trimester is a significant risk factor for LBW and possibly other placental dysfunction disorders such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the associations.
a Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School , Singapore .
Song
S
He
b Office of Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School , Singapore .
John Carson
JC
Allen
c Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School , Singapore .|d Duke Global Health Institute , Durham , NC , USA , and.
Rahul
R
Malhotra
c Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School , Singapore .|d Duke Global Health Institute , Durham , NC , USA , and.
Truls
T
Østbye
e Department of Obstetrics And Gynaecology , KK Women's and Children's Hospital , Singapore.
Thiam Chye
TC
Tan
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood*; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood*
D011374:Progesterone
First trimester; gestational hypertension; placental dysfunction disorder; pregnancy