Maternal plasma visfatin in preterm labor

Figures & data

Table I.  Clinical and demographic characteristics of the study population.

	Normal pregnancy (n = 123)	PTL without IAI term delivery (n = 57)	p*	PTL without IAI preterm delivery (n = 47)	p^†	PTL with IAI preterm delivery (n = 57)	p^‡
Maternal age (years)	25 (21–31)	22 (19–26)	NS	22 (19–27)	NS	24 (20–27)	NS
Parity	1 (0–2)	1 (0–2)	NS	1 (0–3)	NS	1 (0–3)	NS
First trimester BMI (kg/m^2)	23.3 (21.6–26.2)	23.1 (20.0–25.7)	NS	23.4 (21.3–25.6)	NS	24.8 (21.6–29.7)	NS
GA at blood sampling (weeks)	27.7 (21.5–32.2)	30.6 (26.3–32.7)	NS	31.0 (28.9–32.3)	<0.01	25.1 (23.9–31.6)	NS
GA at delivery (weeks)	39.8 (39.0–40.4)	38.6 (37.6–39.3)	<0.01	34.2 (32.9–35.3)	<0.01	27.5 (24.4–32.8)	<0.01
Birth weight (g)	3470 (3220–3730)	2998 (2681–3250)	<0.01	2112 (1559–2358)	<0.01	920 (611–1742)	<0.01

Values are expressed as median (inter-quartile range); PTL, preterm labor; GA, gestational age; BMI, body mass index; IAI, intra-amniotic infection/inflammation; NS, not significant.

*Comparison between PTL who delivered at term and PTL without IAI.

^†Comparison between PTL who delivered preterm without IAI and PTL with IAI.

^‡Comparison between PTL who delivered at term and PTL with IAI.

Figure 1. Comparison of the median maternal plasma visfatin between women with normal pregnancies and patients with spontaneous PTL. The median maternal plasma visfatin concentration was higher in patients with PTL with IAI than those with PTL without IAI who delivered either preterm or at term. Similarly, the median maternal plasma visfatin concentration was higher in patients with PTL with IAI than those with a normal pregnancy. The median maternal plasma visfatin concentration did not differ significantly between patients with PTL without IAI who delivered preterm and those who delivered at term. In addition, there was no significant difference in the median maternal plasma visfatin concentration between women with a normal pregnancy and those with those with PTL without IAI who delivered either preterm or at term.