Role of maternal serum inhibin A and insulin – like growth factor 1 levels as predictors of fetal outcome in high risk pregnancies

Background: Timely prediction of adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcome has been the endeavor ofclinicians since a long time. Identification and validation of a serum based biomarker is the need of the hour andmany tentative molecules have been studied with variable results. Two such molecules are inhibins and insulinlike growth factors. This study was planned to assess the utility of inhibin A and IGF-1 as predictors of adversepregnancy and fetal outcomes.Methods: The study population comprised of all pregnant women presenting to the ante natal clinic in SSKhospital between gestation periods of 24-28 weeks fulfilling the inclusion criteria. The criteria adopted forinclusion in the study included primi-gravida with singleton pregnancy or multi-gravida with high risk factors inthe previous pregnancy such as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, placental abruption,intrauterine growth retardation, intrauterine fetal demise, preterm delivery and early pregnancy loss.Results: The mean levels of inhibin A were significantly higher in women with overall adverse pregnancyoutcome such as preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and preterm delivery as compared to the normalcounterparts. No significant difference in the level of IGF-1 was observed with various adverse outcomes.Inhibin A at the cutoff of > 443pg/ml was found to be reliable marker of preeclampsia and preterm delivery.Conclusion: We may hypothesize from our findings that second trimester inhibin A levels may be furtherevaluated through large prospective studies as an reliable biomarker of adverse pregnancy outcome.

Keywords:

Preeclampsia , IGF-1 , Inhibin A , SGA