Evaluation of serum CA125 values in healthy individuals and pregnant women.

CA125 is an antigenic determinant associated with human epithelial ovarian carcinoma. This study was undertaken to evaluate the distribution of serum CA125 levels and the effect of smoking on these levels among healthy individuals and clarify the relation of maternal serum CA125 level and pregnancy. Among 552 healthy individuals, the distribution of serum CA125 values was demonstrated to resemble logarithmic normal distribution. Analysis of variance about age and sex revealed apparent elevation of values for women under 49 years of age in comparison with those for women over 50 years of age and men. Values for these two groups were 143 units/ml for the former and 32 units/ml for the latter, with a 99.7% confidence limit. These values exclude 99.3% of the former and 99.7% of the latter. Serum CA125 values were not affected by smoking. The measurement of serum CA125 levels in 71 pregnant women disclosed a significant elevation during the first trimester in comparison with nonpregnant women under 49 years of age. These results indicate that CA125 values must be deliberatively evaluated in young women, especially during first trimester of pregnancy.