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MATERNAL SERUM ALPHA‐FETOPROTEIN AND SPONTANEOUS ABORTION
Author(s) -
Wald N.,
Barker Sheila,
Cuckle H.,
Brock D. J. H.,
Stirrat G. M.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1977.tb12599.x
Subject(s) - abortion , medicine , obstetrics , abort , pregnancy , alpha fetoprotein , amniocentesis , pregnancy termination , fetus , gynecology , prenatal diagnosis , biology , genetics , computer science , hepatocellular carcinoma , operating system
Summary The relationship between spontaneous abortion and maternal serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) levels was investigated between 9 and 25 weeks of pregnancy. Seven out of 126 (5·6 per cent) women who had spontaneous abortions had raised maternal serum AFP levels at their antenatal booking visit compared to 4 out of 247 (1·6 per cent) control patients who were delivered of single liveborn infants, a statistically significant difference. The raised AFP concentrations were, however, associated with spontaneous abortion only if the serum samples had been taken immediately before, or at sometime after the abortion was first clinically suspected. This suggests that high levels do not predict the development of abortion in women who have not already threatened to abort. It is therefore unlikely that women who who have not already threatened to abort. Therefore, when maternal serum AFP levels are used to screen for fetal neural tube defects, women referred for a diagnostic amniocentesis on account of a high level are unlikely to have been selected on the basis of a tendency to abort.