Maternal Serum Mid-Trimester Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, Alfa-Fetoprotein, and Unconjugated Estriol in Predicting Preeclampsia

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the role of mid-trimester total human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) and unconjugated estriol (uE3) in the prediction of pre-eclampsia. Method. We carried out a retrospective analysis of hCG, AFP, uE3 levels taken between 16-18 weeks of gestation from 278 women. None of these women had abnormal karyotype fetuses or malformations. The levels of maternal serum hCG, AFP, uE3 were compared between 20 severe pre-eclampsia, 96 mild pre-eclampsia and 112 controls. Results. Levels of hCG in the second trimester triple test result from women who later developed severe pre-eclampsia were significantly elevated than control group (p=0.001, p<0.01). The mean gestational age at birth and mean birth weight of patients whose hCG were higher than 2 MoM (n=32) in triple test were significantly lower than patients with hCG equal or lower than 2 MoM (p<0.01). Conclusion. Increased hCG was found to be significantly associated with severe pre-eclampsia developing later in pregnancy.