Photo Credit: Rasi Bhadramani
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine highlighted pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A)’s promise as a screening biomarker for preeclampsia in the first trimester. Researchers searched PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane Library up to November 2022 and sourced 22 prospective studies. The study utilized the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for bias assessment. A total of 33,651 pregnant women were involved in the studies, 2,001 of whom were diagnosed with preeclampsia. The meta-analysis results showed significantly lower PAPP-A levels in women with early-onset preeclampsia (MD, −0.24; 95% CI, −0.37 to −0.11; P<0.001), late-onset preeclampsia (MD, −0.15; 95% CI: −0.25 to −0.05; P=0.03), and total preeclampsia cases (MD, −0.17; 95% CI, −0.23 to −0.11; P<0.001) compared with controls. The review authors concluded that PAPP-A has potential as a predictive biomarker for early preeclampsia detection, which could enable timely intervention and individualized treatment for women at risk.
