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. 2022 Dec 7;10(12):2474.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare10122474.

Role of CA-125 Level as a Marker in the Management of Severe Pre-Eclampsia

Oana Balint  1 , Cristina Secosan  1 , Laurențiu Pirtea  1   2
Affiliations

Role of CA-125 Level as a Marker in the Management of Severe Pre-Eclampsia

Oana Balint et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background and objectives: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy remain one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in maternal-fetal medicine worldwide, particularly in low-resource settings. Despite extensive research in the last decades, pre-eclampsia prediction and, thus, effective prevention remains an unsolved problem. Current evidence suggests that CA-125, an already recognised tumoral marker and, lately, a valuable severity marker of heart failure, can be used to evaluate pre-eclampsia severity and thus improve the identification and management of high-risk patients; Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study involving 100 pregnant patients over 25 weeks of gestation, grouped based on the severity of hypertension in gestational hypertension (n = 22), non-severe pre-eclampsia (n = 11), severe pre-eclampsia (n = 17), and a control group (normotensive) (n = 50). Clinical and biochemical parameters recommended by the international guidelines for evaluating hypertensive pregnant patients were gathered from every patient in addition to CA-125 levels. The correlation was analysed.

Results: Mean CA-125 levels increased with the severity of hypertension from a mean of 8.97 U/mL (±2.84) in the normotensive group to a mean of 21.23 U/mL (±11.18) in the severe pre-eclampsia group. Significant differences were observed between each group. The correlation of CA-125 levels with the assessed clinical and biochemical parameters showed positive correlations with MAP, 24 h proteinuria, and LDH values and negative correlations with platelet count, gestational age at birth, and birth weight Conclusions: The reported results support this marker's promising role as a severity marker and its potential to improve pre-eclampsia management allowing a better selection of high-risk patients, aiding in decision making related to hospitalisation and/or timing of birth. Further studies are needed to improve the accuracy of the obtained results, identify an accurate cut-off and an optimal time of measurement, and achieve standardisation in measuring the marker.

Keywords: CA-125; pre-eclampsia; pregnancy-induced hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean values of CA-125 in the study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
CA-125 correlation with MAP, 24 h proteinuria, platelets count, and LDH.
Figure 3
Figure 3
ROC curve of serum CA-125 and severe pre-eclampsia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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