Second trimester maternal serum biomarkers and the risk of cerebral palsy

Abstract

Aims: To investigate whether second trimester maternal serum screening (2TMSS) biomarkers are associated with cerebral palsy (CP) and identify CP characteristics associated with abnormal biomarker levels. Method: In this retrospective case–control data linkage study, we linked mothers of 129 singleton CP cases from a population register to their 2TMSS records and selected 10 singleton pregnancy controls per case (n = 1290). We compared mean and abnormal levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotrophin (β-hCG), unconjugated estriol (uE3), and inhibin between cases and controls and within CP subgroups. Results: Compared to control pregnancies, CP pregnancies had..