Can early pregnancy decorin levels be a potential predictor for preterm birth?

Objective: This study investigates the role of maternal decorin levels measured in the early second trimester of pregnancy in detecting the potential for preterm birth in late pregnancy. Methods: The prospective, case-control study was carried out in tertiary university hospital from June to December 2021.Maternal serum samples were collected from 350 women aged 18–40 years with a singleton pregnancy during early second-trimester screening for aneuploidy, and stored at -80°C. All participants were followed up until delivery and 25 patients diagnosed with preterm birth group and 40 full-term healthy women were included in the study. Results: The median maternal serum decorin level was 3.82 (1.15–12.37) ng/ml in the preterm birth (PTB) group and 4.63 (1.20–10.02) ng/ml in the control group, there was no statistically difference between the groups (p = 0.111). The mean gestational age was statistically significantly lower in the preterm birth group (33.1±2.7 weeks) than in the control (39±1.16 weeks) (p <0.001). The mean fetal weight was statistically significantly lower in the preterm birth group (2023.8±477 g) than in the control group (3309.7±353 g) (p <0.001). Conclusion: Early second-trimester serum levels of decorin alone may not be a sufficiently accurate biomarker as a biochemical model for the prediction of preterm birth in asymptomatic women. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.8.6551 How to cite this:Ozgen L, Ozgen G. Can early pregnancy decorin levels be a potential predictor for preterm birth? Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(8):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.8.6551 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.