OBJECTIVE: To assess maternal serum activin A as a potential marker of fetal growth restriction. DESIGN: A cohort study. SETTING: A maternal-fetal medicine unit, university teaching hospital. POPULATION: Fifty-seven women with a small fetus (less than 10th centile for gestation) referred for assessment of fetal size by ultrasound biometry. METHODS: At the time of presentation for fetal biometry, maternal blood was collected for activin A measurement. The case records of each woman were independently reviewed after delivery and the pregnancy grouped into one of three groups: constitutionally small fetus, intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetus or IUGR fetus and maternal pre-eclampsia (IUGR-pre-eclampsia). Activin A levels in the three groups were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternal serum activin A levels. RESULTS: Sixteen of the 57 pregnancies were classified as constitutionally small, 17 as IUGR and 24 as IUGR-pre-eclampsia. Expressed as multiples of a normal median (MoMs), the median (95% CI) activin A level in the constitutionally small pregnancies was 1.12 (0.72-1.39) MoMs significantly lower than the level in both the IUGR pregnancies, 3.00 (1.84-4.11) MoMs, and the IUGR-pre-eclampsia pregnancies, 7.96 (5.73-10.62) MoMs (P = 0.002 and 0.0001 for IUGR vs constitutionally small and IUGR-pre-eclampsia vs constitutionally small, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal serum activin A may be useful in the assessment of the small for gestational age fetus.
OBJECTIVE: To assess maternal serum activin A as a potential marker of fetal growth restriction. DESIGN: A cohort study. SETTING: A maternal-fetal medicine unit, university teaching hospital. POPULATION: Fifty-seven women with a small fetus (less than 10th centile for gestation) referred for assessment of fetal size by ultrasound biometry. METHODS: At the time of presentation for fetal biometry, maternal blood was collected for activin A measurement. The case records of each woman were independently reviewed after delivery and the pregnancy grouped into one of three groups: constitutionally small fetus, intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetus or IUGR fetus and maternal pre-eclampsia (IUGR-pre-eclampsia). Activin A levels in the three groups were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternal serum activin A levels. RESULTS: Sixteen of the 57 pregnancies were classified as constitutionally small, 17 as IUGR and 24 as IUGR-pre-eclampsia. Expressed as multiples of a normal median (MoMs), the median (95% CI) activin A level in the constitutionally small pregnancies was 1.12 (0.72-1.39) MoMs significantly lower than the level in both the IUGR pregnancies, 3.00 (1.84-4.11) MoMs, and the IUGR-pre-eclampsia pregnancies, 7.96 (5.73-10.62) MoMs (P = 0.002 and 0.0001 for IUGR vs constitutionally small and IUGR-pre-eclampsia vs constitutionally small, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal serum activin A may be useful in the assessment of the small for gestational age fetus.
Authors: I Mylonas; B Schiessl; U Jeschke; J Vogl; A Makrigiannakis; C Kuhn; S Kunze; S Schulze; F Kainer; K Friese Journal: J Mol Histol Date: 2006-05-03 Impact factor: 2.611