CHICAGO – A one-time measurement of plasma kisspeptin – a family of placental peptides also being studied for fertility treatment – better predicts miscarriage than does serial measurement of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a widely used measure.
British researchers measured both in 993 asymptomatic women at approximately 11 weeks’ gestation, 50 of whom later miscarried. Plasma kisspeptin proved a more accurate predictor of miscarriage than HCG: the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for plasma kisspeptin was 0.899, compared with 0.775 for serum HCG. Plasma kisspeptin above 1,306 pmol/L was associated with a highly significant 87% reduced risk of miscarriage, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, gestational age, smoking, and blood pressure.
Lead investigator Dr. Ali Abbara of Imperial College London explained why that matters at the joint meeting of the International Congress of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society.