Premium
First‐trimester maternal serum progesterone in aneuploid pregnancies
Author(s) -
Christiansen Michael,
Sørensen Tina Lindvig,
Larsen Severin Olesen,
NørgaardPedersen Bent
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/pd.1843
Subject(s) - trisomy , gestational age , down syndrome , aneuploidy , medicine , pregnancy , gestation , fetus , placenta , second trimester , obstetrics , gynecology , andrology , endocrinology , biology , chromosome , genetics , psychiatry , gene
Background First‐trimester maternal serum screening for Down syndrome (DS) can be improved by the use of additional serum markers. We examined whether progesterone (P), synthesized by placenta, might be a first‐trimester maternal serum marker for fetal DS. Materials and Methods P was quantified in first‐trimester maternal serum from 42 DS, six trisomy 18 and two trisomy 13 pregnancies and 115 controls. Log‐regression of P versus gestational age in days was used to convert P concentrations into multiples of the median (MoM). Results The P concentrations in controls increased with gestational age ( p = 9.5 × 10 −7 ). The log10MoM P distribution in DS pregnancies was not significantly different from that in controls. However, from day 58–67, the log10MoM P was elevated in DS pregnancies ( n = 10) with a mean (SD) of 0.1040 (0.0956), compared to a mean (SD) of − 0.0109 (0.1661) in controls ( n = 24) ( p = 0.05). Five out of six trisomy 18 and both trisomy 13 pregnancies had a P MoM < 1. Conclusion P is not a useful marker for DS in first trimester, except perhaps in a narrow gestational age window from day 58 to 67. P is a trisomy 18/13 marker. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.