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Second‐trimester diurnal variation of maternal serum alpha‐fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin, and unconjugated oestriol: Is it present and does it affect the prediction of a patient's risk for fetal down syndrome?
Author(s) -
Rose Nancy C.,
Canick Jacob A.,
Knight George J.,
Pulkkinen Andrea,
Tumber M. B.,
Mennuti Michael T.,
Palomaki Glenn E.
Publication year - 1994
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.1970141009
Subject(s) - medicine , human chorionic gonadotropin , gonadotropin , fetus , diurnal temperature variation , alpha fetoprotein , pregnancy , obstetrics , down syndrome , blood sampling , gynecology , endocrinology , hormone , biology , atmospheric sciences , psychiatry , geology , hepatocellular carcinoma , genetics
Both a cross‐sectional and a longitudinal study were performed to investigate whether or not the collection time should be taken into consideration when generating a patient's risk for fetal Down syndrome with multiple marker screening. Diurnal variations of third‐trimester alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) levels and first‐trimester human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels have been previously reported. In addition, large episodic fluctuations of conjugated and unconjugated oestriol (uE3) as well as a diurnal variation have also been reported in the third trimester. If the levels of these analytes routinely fluctuate during the day, they could affect a patient's risk calculation for fetal Down syndrome. The longitudinal study evaluated ten non‐diabetic women who underwent sequential sampling for AFP, hCG, and uE3. The cross‐sectional study evaluated 1953 patients for these three markers whose time of sampling was recorded between 8·00 a.m. and 5·59 p.m. Using either study design, no significant effect was seen in the median MOM levels of the screening analytes as a function of the time of day.