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. 2023 Jun;26(2):517-523.
doi: 10.1007/s40477-022-00766-0. Epub 2023 Jan 19.

Sensitivity of uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index in screening for adverse pregnancy outcome in first and second trimesters

Everistus O Abonyi  1 , Felicitas U Idigo  1 , Angel-Mary C Anakwue  1 , Julius Amechi Agbo  2
Affiliations

Sensitivity of uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index in screening for adverse pregnancy outcome in first and second trimesters

Everistus O Abonyi et al. J Ultrasound. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: In a poor resource country where screening for adverse pregnancy outcomes using maternal biomarkers seems unattainable, there is a need to search for credible alternatives. This study is, therefore, aimed at determining the sensitivity of uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index (UtAD-PI) in predicting pregnancy outcomes in the first and second trimesters and to establish any statistical difference in mean UtAD-PI in first and second trimesters screening of women with normal and abnormal pregnancy outcomes respectively.

Methods: This clinical-based, longitudinal, and unpaired cohort study involved 500 pregnant women, who were screened for adverse outcomes using UtAD-PI and delivered in the hospital. These were divided into two groups, each having a training set and a test set. The training set was used to generate the receiver operator characteristic curve and cut-off point while the test set was used to test for sensitivity and specificity of the Ut-ADI in each trimester.

Results: The sensitivity and specificity of UtAD-PI in first-trimester screening are 97% and 76.5% while second-trimester gave sensitivity and specificity of 57.5% and 63.3% respectively. The uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index shows statistically significant differences between normal pregnancy and pregnancy with adverse outcomes (p-value = 0.000).

Conclusion: The uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index is a good screening tool for adverse pregnancy outcomes. First-trimester screening of patients for adverse outcomes is more sensitive than the second-trimester screening using UtAD-PI. There is also a statistically significant difference between mean UtAD-PI between normal pregnancy and pregnancy with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords: Adverse; Doppler; Pregnancy outcomes; Screening; Sensitivity; Uterine artery.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Uterine artery Doppler waveform
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
ROC curve for pulsatility index in first-trimester screening
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
ROC curve for Pulsatility index in second-trimester screening
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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