title: Association between PAPP-A and placental thickness.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measuring of maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in first trimester can be a way for early detection of adverse prenatal outcome due to faulty placenta.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to Determination of association between placental thickness in second trimester with low level of PAPP-A in first trimester.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cohort study, serum PAPP-A of 187 pregnant women was measured in the first trimester of pregnancy. Patients who had PAPP-A ≤0.8 MOM were in exposed and others who had PAPP-A >0.8 defined as unexposed group. The criteria of placental thickness in ultrasound study was thickness of 4 cm or more than 50% of placental length.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 187 patients, 87 patients had PAPP-A >0.8 and 93 patients had PAPP-A ≤0.8. Women with low levels of PAPP-A in the first trimester, had an increased incidence placental thickness of 34.4%, whereas another group had about 15% (p=0.002). Also, PAPP-A levels had acceptable sensitivity and specificity for placental thickness detection (71.1% and 54.8%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that serum level of PAPP-A generally was low (≤0.8) in women with a thick placenta (>4 cm or >50% of placental length). The first trimester of pregnancy measurement of PAPP-A will be more predictable for healthy placenta.
authors.affiliation: Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Elaheh
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mesdaghi-Nia
authors.affiliation: Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behrashi
authors.affiliation: Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Arezoo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saeidi
authors.affiliation: Truma Medical Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoomeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abedzadeh Kalahroodi
authors.affiliation: Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sehat
keywords: Placenta; Pregnancy; Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A)