Maternal Serum Copeptin As a Biomarker For Intrauterine Growth Restriction

In obstetrical world, Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) occupies second slot as a cause of small for gestation neonates, first being premature birth, both of which result in potential neonatal morbidities and mortalities. IUGR is defined as an estimated fetal weight at one point in time at or below 10th percentile for gestational age. Annually about thirty million babies suffer from IUGR and out of these about 75% are Asians. IUGR has been found to be associated with increased levels of Copeptin. As copeptin is a marker of endogenous stress, so increased copeptin levels can indicate fetal and maternal stress in IUGR Objectives: The objectives of this study were to the compare maternal serum copeptin levels in pregnancies with IUGR and pregnancies with adequate for gestational age fetuses and to establish the significance of copeptin as a biomarker for IUGR. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional comparative study in which maternal serum copeptin levels were measured and compared in 60 patients divided in two groups, pregnancies with IUGR and normal pregnancies with adequate for gestation age fetuses between 28-35 weeks of gestation Results: Maternal serum copeptin levels were raised in pregnant women with IUGR as compared to that in pregnant women with adequate for gestational age fetuses. Mean ± SD maternal serum copeptin levels were 97.5 ± 6 pg/ml in pregnant women with AGA fetuses and 121 ± 7.8 pg/ml in pregnant women with IUGR.  Conclusions: Maternal serum copeptin levels are raised in pregnancies with IUGR as compared to pregnancies with adequate for age fetuses which can represent as a possible clinical biomarker for identification of IUGR.