TUESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Low plasma placental growth factor (PlGF) concentration has high sensitivity and negative predictive value for preeclampsia within 14 days, according to a study published in the Nov. 5 issue of Circulation.
Lucy C. Chappell, Ph.D., from King's College London, and colleagues studied the diagnostic accuracy of low plasma PlGF concentration (<5th centile for gestation; Alere Triage assay) in 625 women presenting with suspected preeclampsia between 20 and 35 weeks' gestation (and up to 41 weeks' gestation as a secondary analysis). Delivery for confirmed preeclampsia within 14 days was the primary outcome.
The researchers found that 55 percent of the women developed confirmed preeclampsia. For the 287 women enrolled prior to 35 weeks' gestation, PlGF <5th centile had high sensitivity (0.96) and negative predictive value (0.98), while specificity was 0.55 for preeclampsia within 14 days. For women presenting with suspected preeclampsia, low PlGF had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.87 for predicting preeclampsia within 14 days, which was significantly greater than all other commonly used tests, either singly or in combination.
"In women presenting before 35 weeks' gestation with suspected preeclampsia, low PlGF has high sensitivity and negative predictive value for preeclampsia within 14 days, is better than other currently used tests, and presents an innovative adjunct to management of such women," the authors conclude.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Alere, which partially funded the study.
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