Early second trimester amniotic fluid erythropoietin and pregnancy outcomes

• Main Author: Di Giovanni, Jessica Louise.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2008
• Subjects: Erythropoietin.; Amniotic liquid > Analysis.; Fetus > Growth.; Birth weight.; Diabetes in pregnancy.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=112615

The study objective was to determine whether early 2 nd trimester amniotic fluid (AF) erythropoietin (EPO) was associated with and predictive of (a) development of maternal gestational diabetes (GDM) and (b) the infant outcome parameters of (i) gestational age at birth (GAAB) assessed exclusively among spontaneous vaginal deliveries or (ii) birth weight (measured in grams and percentiles). Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay was used to determine the EPO concentration of 170 biobanked AF samples. Student's t-test revealed no difference between GDM and non-GDM subjects. AF EPO was not predictive of GAAB despite being significantly greater among preterm infants compared to post-term infants. In contrast, AF EPO was significantly higher among the smallest infants using both birth weight classification schemes. However, following inclusion of known covariates AF EPO was predictive of gram birth weight only. Early 2nd trimester AF EPO may emerge as a useful biomarker of fetal nutritional status and/or growth.