Maternal Serum Copeptin As a Biomarker For Intrauterine Growth Restriction

In obstetrical world, Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) occupies second slot as a cause of small for gestation neonates, first being premature birth, both of which result in potential neonatal morbidities and mortalities. IUGR is defined as an estimated fetal weight at one point in time at or below 10th percentile for gestational age. Annually about thirty million babies suffer from IUGR and out of these about 75% are Asians. IUGR has been found to be associated with increased levels of Copeptin. As copeptin is a marker of endogenous stress, so increased copeptin levels can indicate fetal and maternal stress in IUGR Objectives: The objectives of this study were to the compare maternal serum copeptin levels in pregnancies with IUGR and pregnancies with adequate for gestational age fetuses and to establish the significance of copeptin as a biomarker for IUGR. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional comparative study in which maternal serum copeptin levels were measured and compared in 60 patients divided in two groups, pregnancies with IUGR and normal pregnancies with adequate for gestation age fetuses between 28-35 weeks of gestation Results: Maternal serum copeptin levels were raised in pregnant women with IUGR as compared to that in pregnant women with adequate for gestational age fetuses. Mean ± SD maternal serum copeptin levels were 97.5 ± 6 pg/ml in pregnant women with AGA fetuses and 121 ± 7.8 pg/ml in pregnant women with IUGR. Conclusions: Maternal serum copeptin levels are raised in pregnancies with IUGR as compared to pregnancies with adequate for age fetuses which can represent as a possible clinical biomarker for identification of IUGR.

Factors Predicting Successful Vaginal Delivery Following Induction of Labor in Term Pregnancy v1

Objective This study was proposed to evaluatefactors predicting successful vaginal delivery following labor induction and develop induction prediction model in term pregnancy among Thai pregnant women. Method We conducted a retrospective cohort study using electronic medical recordsof 23,833 deliveries from April 2010 - July 2021 at tertiary-level hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Univariate regression was performed to identify association of individual parameters to successful vaginal delivery. Multiple logistic regression analysis of all possible variables from univariate analysis was performed to develop prediction model with statistically significant of p value < 0.05. Results Of thetotal 809 labor-induced pregnancies, the vaginal delivery rate was 56.6%. Among predicting variables, history of previous vaginal delivery (aOR 5.75, 95%CI3.701-8.961), maternal delivery BMI < 25 kg/m2 (aOR 2.010, 95%CI1.303-3.286), estimated fetal weight < 3500 g (aOR 2.193, 95%CI1.246-3.860), and gestational age ≤ 39 weeks (aOR 1.501, 95%CI1.038-2.173) significantly increased the probability of successful vaginal delivery following labor induction. The final prediction model has been internally validated. Model calibration and discrimination were satisfactory with Hosmer-Lemeshow test P= 0.21 and with AUC of 0.732 (95% CI 0.692-0.772). Conclusions This study determined the pragmatic predictors for successful vaginal delivery following labor induction comprised of history of previous vaginal delivery, maternal delivery BMI < 25 kg/m2, estimated fetal weight < 3500 g, and gestational age ≤ 39 weeks. The final induction prediction model was well-performing internally validated prediction model to estimate individual probability when undergoing induction of labor. Despite of restricted population, the predicting factors and model could be useful for further prospective study and clinical practice to improve induction outcomes.