Objective
We hypothesized that the origins of abruption may extend to the stages of placental implantation; however, there are no reliable markers to predict its development. Based on this hypothesis, we sought to evaluate whether first-trimester and second-trimester serum analytes predict placental abruption.
Methods
We performed a secondary analysis of data of 35,307 women (250 abruptions) enrolled in the First and Second Trimester Evaluation of Risk (FASTER) cohort (1999–2003) – a multicenter, prospective cohort study. Percentiles (based on multiples of the median, MoM) of first-trimester (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A [PAPP-A], and total, and free-β human chorionic gonadotropin [β-hCG]), and second-trimester (maternal serum alpha fetoprotein [AFP], unconjugated estriol [uE3], and Inhibin-A) serum analytes were examined in relation to abruption. Associations are based on risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).
Results
Women with an abnormally low PAPP-A (≤5 percentile) were at increased risk of abruption compared to those without an abruption (9.6% versus 5.3%; RR 1.9, 95% CI, 1.2–2.8). Maternal serum AFP ≥95 percentile was more common among abruption (9.6%) than non-abruption (5.1%) pregnancies (RR 1.9, 95% CI, 1.3–3.0). Inhibin-A ≤5 percentile (8.0% versus 5.1%; RR 1.8, 95% CI, 1.1–2.9), and ≥95 percentile (9.6% versus 5.0%; RR 2.0, 95% CI, 1.3–3.1) were associated with abruption. Women with all three abnormal PAPP-A, maternal serum AFP, and Inhibin-A analytes were at 8.8-fold (95% CI, 2.3–34.3) risk of abruption. No associations were seen with other analytes.
Conclusions
These data provide support to our hypothesis that the origins of placental abruption may extend to the early stages in pregnancy.