Umbilical cord prostaglandins in term and preterm parturition

Figures & data

Table 1. Clinical characteristics and concentrations of prostaglandins (PGE₂ and PGF_2α) in the umbilical cord for each study group.

	Term delivery without labor (n = 20)	Term delivery with labor (n = 20)	p-value*	sPTD without funisitis (n = 20)	sPTD with funisitis (n = 20)	p-value†	p-value‡
Maternal age (years)	25.5 (20–35)	26.0 (17–35)	0.8	25.5 (20–36)	23.0 (16–39)	0.7	0.4
Nulliparity	10% (2/20)	20% (4/20)	0.7	10% (2/20)	30% (6/20)	0.2	0.5
GA at delivery (weeks)	39.0 (37.1–40.1)	39.1 (37.1–40.4)	0.9	31.8 (27–34)	32.3 (28.6–34)	0.9	<0.001
Birth weight (g)	3323 (2545–4485)	3258 (2550–3695)	0.5	1818 (881–2690)	1665 (1010–2335)	0.6	<0.001
Male gender	70% (14/20)	55% (11/20)	0.3	45% (9/20)	50% (10/20)	0.8	0.8
PGE2	133.7 (44.8–252.4)	116.1 (33.5–354.9)	0.9	87.4 (6.1–258.6)	233.7 (61.3–1000)	0.001	0.03
PGF2α	8.4 (4.1–15.2)	8.1 (4.2–14.8)	0.7	7.1 (0.6–13.1)	9.6 (4.3–43.8)	0.051	0.3

Data are presented as median (interquartile range) and percentage with (n).

sPTD, spontaneous preterm delivery; PGE2 and PGF_2α concentrations were expressed by pg/µg of total protein; GA: gestational age.

*Comparison between term delivery without labor and term delivery with labor.

†Comparison between sPTD without funisitis and sPTD with funisitis.

‡Comparison between TIL and sPTD with funisitis.

Table 2. Clinical characteristics and the umbilical cord concentrations of PGE₂ and PGF_2α for term and preterm preeclampsia cases.

	Preeclampsia (n = 78)
Maternal age (years)	26.4 (± 6.1)
Nulliparity	45% (35/78)
Gestational age at delivery (weeks)	35.7 (25.3–39.0)
Birth weight (g)	2051 (± 859)
Male gender	58% (45/78)
PGE2 (pg/µg of total protein)*	95.1 (11.5–714.1)
PGF2α (pg/µg of total protein)*	5.5 (1.2–19.9)

Data are presented as mean (± SD) and percentage with (n).

*[median (range)].

Figure 1. PGE₂ and PGF_2α concentrations in the umbilical cord as a function of gestational age including preterm and term gestations with preeclampsia. Umbilical cord PGE₂ and PGF_2α concentrations increased with advancing gestational age until 36 weeks (PGE₂: ρ = 0.59, p < 0.001; PGF_2α: ρ = 0.39, p = 0.01), but not after 36 weeks (PGE₂: ρ = −0.1, p = 0.5; PGF_2α: ρ = −0.2, p = 0.2).

Figure 2. PGE₂ and PGF_2α umbilical cord concentrations in different sites of the umbilical cord. There was no significant difference in the umbilical cord concentrations of PGE₂ and PGF_2α among the three different sampling sites (PGE₂; p = 0.7; and PGF_2α; p = 0.7). (I: 1 cm apart from umbilical cord insertion. C: 1 cm apart from the cord clamping. M: mid-segment). Connected lines referred to prostaglandin concentration in a particular segment of the umbilical and in another segment in each patient.