Investigation of serum afamin concentration in pregnant women diagnosed with late fetal growth restriction or small for gestational age fetus

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the afamin concentration in the serum of pregnant women diagnosed with late fetal growth restriction (FGR) or small for gestational age (SGA) in the third trimester.

Methods

This prospective case-control study was conducted on 126 pregnant women, 42 of whom were diagnosed with late FGR in the third trimester, 43 were SGA, and 41 were healthy controls. The groups were compared in terms of maternal serum afamin concentrations.

Results

Three groups were similar in terms of demographic characteristics and gestational age at blood sampling for afamin (p < .05). The median afamin concentration was determined as 199 ng/mL in the late FGR group, 153 ng/mL in the SGA group, and 108 ng/mL in the control group (p = .000). In the post-hoc analysis, while maternal serum afamin concentrations were found to be significantly higher in the late FGR group and SGA group compared to the control group but, this significance could not be shown between the FGR group and the SGA group (p = .00001, p = .005, p = .137, respectively). In the ROC analysis, the optimal cutoff value of serum afamin concentration to predict late FGR was determined as 141 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 66.6% and a specificity of 85.3%.

Conclusions

The serum afamin concentration in the third trimester was found to be higher in pregnant women with late FGR compared to the SGA and control groups. Although afamin is seen as a promising molecule in the clinical prediction of late FGR, this needs to be supported by large series of studies.

Keywords:

• Afamin
• fetal growth
• fetal growth restriction
• small for gestational age

Acknowledgment

We thank all the participants who participated in the study.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was maintained by the Declaration of Helsinki, and informed consent was obtained from all the participants. The Local Ethics Committee of Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey has approved this study (Ethics Committee Approval No: B.10.1.TKH.4.34.H.GP.0.01/224).

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data supporting the findings of this study is available in the OSFHOME data repository with a DOI identifier.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.