relationship between pregnancy complications and serum pregnancy associated-plasma-protein-a and free-β-human chorionic gonadotropin in the first trimester among iranian women

Objective: to evaluate the relationship between maternal serum levels of pregnancy-associated-plasma-protein-a (papp-a) and β-human-chorionic-gonadotropin (β-hcg) and pregnancy complications. materials and methods: this is a case-control study conducted during 2015- 2016. women at their first pregnancy were enrolled and serum papp-a and free-β-hcg were measured in 9-14 weeks of gestation. they were followed till the end of pregnancylooking for complications including preterm labor, pregnancy induced hypertension (pih), abortion, and intra-uterine growth retardation (iugr). results: a total of 1070 pregnant women (mean age: 28.64 ± 4.95 years) were enrolled. low serum levels of papp-a were more frequent in patients developing iugr (17.4% versus 1.2%, p < 0.001), preterm labor (13% versus 2%, p = 0.013), and pih (17.4% versus 4%, p = 0.015) compared those without complications. the serum levels of free-β-hcg were not different in patients with and without complications (p > 0.05). conclusion: there is an association between low serum levels of papp-a and developing iugr, preterm labor, and pih.