MATERNAL SERUM ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN AND SPONTANEOUS ABORTION

  1. N. Wald Lecturer in Medicine1,
  2. Sheila Barker Research Officer1,
  3. H. Cuckle Lecturer in Statistics1,
  4. D. J. H. Brock Lecturer in Human Genetics2,
  5. G. M. Stirrat Clinical Reader3

Article first published online: 23 AUG 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1977.tb12599.x

Issue

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Volume 84, Issue 5, pages 357–362, May 1977

Additional Information

How to Cite

Wald, N., Barker, S., Cuckle, H., Brock, D. J. H. and Stirrat, G. M. (1977), MATERNAL SERUM ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN AND SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 84: 357–362. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1977.tb12599.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    DHSS Cancer Epidemiology and Clinical Trials Unit Department of the Regius Professor of Medicine Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE

  2. 2

    University Department of Human Genetics Western General Hospital, Edinburgh

  3. 3

    Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 23 AUG 2005
  2. Article first published online: 23 AUG 2005

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

Get PDF (360K)

Summary

The relationship between spontaneous abortion and maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels was investigated between 9 and 25 weeks of pregnancy. Seven out of 126 (5·6 per cent) women who had spontaneous abortions had raised maternal serum AFP levels at their antenatal booking visit compared to 4 out of 247 (1·6 per cent) control patients who were delivered of single liveborn infants, a statistically significant difference. The raised AFP concentrations were, however, associated with spontaneous abortion only if the serum samples had been taken immediately before, or at sometime after the abortion was first clinically suspected. This suggests that high levels do not predict the development of abortion in women who have not already threatened to abort. It is therefore unlikely that women who who have not already threatened to abort. Therefore, when maternal serum AFP levels are used to screen for fetal neural tube defects, women referred for a diagnostic amniocentesis on account of a high level are unlikely to have been selected on the basis of a tendency to abort.

Get PDF (360K)