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%.

Conclusion: Screening by maternal characteristics and activin-A at 30–33 weeks could identify half of the pregnancies that will subsequently develop PE.

• Activin-A
• preeclampsia
• pyramid of antenatal care
• third trimester screening