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C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A protein in pregnancy and labour

  1. WILLEM J. de VILLIERS Registrar 1,*,
  2. JOHANN P. LOUW Registrar 2,
  3. ALISTAIR F. STRACHAN Senior Specialist Medical Scientist 1,
  4. SUSEL M. ETSEBETH Senior Research Assistant 1,
  5. ENID G. SHEPHARD Specialist Medical Scientist 1,
  6. FREDERICK C. de BEER Professor 1

Article first published online: 22 AUG 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1990.tb16247.x

Issue

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Volume 97, Issue 8, pages 725–730, August 1990

Additional Information

How to Cite

de VILLIERS, W. J., LOUW, J. P., STRACHAN, A. F., ETSEBETH, S. M., SHEPHARD, E. G. and de BEER, F. C. (1990), C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A protein in pregnancy and labour. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 97: 725–730. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1990.tb16247.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Internal Medicine, University of Stellenbosch Medical School, PO Box 63, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa

  2. 2

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Stellenbosch Medical School, PO Box 63, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa

* Dr Willem J. de Villiers, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Stellenbosch, Medical School, PO Box 63, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 22 AUG 2005
  2. Article first published online: 22 AUG 2005
  3. Received 20 July 1989 Accepted 14 February 1990

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Summary. Serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and amyloid A protein (SAA) were measured prospectively using immunoradiometric assays in normal pregnant women, newborn infants and women with prelabour rupture of membranes (PROM), focusing on the peripartum period. CRP levels in 50 healthy women at 38 weeks gestation did not differ significantly from previously established normal values. CRP levels in 67 healthy women sampled serially in labour from admission to 96 h postpartum confirm the physiological occurrence of a major acute phase response. The serial CRP levels of 16 women with PROM did not differ significantly from the wide range of CRP levels found in the normal postpartum period. This complicates the use of CRP as an early predictor of clinical chorio-amnionitis. Serial SAA levels in 17 women at 38 weeks gestation, immediately postpartum and 24 h postpartum showed a parallel rise to CRP in the peripartum period. Significant differences between maternal and neonatal CRP and SAA levels were demonstrated, implying a lack of transplacental transfer during labour.

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