Human chronic gonadotropin concentrations in very early pregnancy and subsequent preeclampsia.

Evaluation of: Asvold BO, Vatten LJ, Tanbo TG, Eskild A. Concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin in very early pregnancy and subsequent pre-eclampsia: a cohort study. Hum. Reprod. 29(6), 1153-1160 (2014). A total of 2405 consecutive singleton pregnancies were followed to determine if early HCG levels were associated with the development of preeclampsia. All pregnancies were conceived by in vitro fertilization, which allowed very accurate gestational age dating. HCG levels were obtained on day 12, and grouped into 4 categories (<50, 50-99, 100-149, ≥ 150). HCG levels less than 50 were associated with an odds ratio of 2.3 (95% CI: 1.2-4.7) for preeclampsia and and odds ratio of 4.2 (95% CI: 1.4-12.2) for severe preeclampsia. Early HCG levels may serve as a marker for the detection of preeclampsia.