A Study to Assess the Significance of Urinary Collagen IV Excretion to Predict Preeclampsia in Early Pregnancy

It was a prospective study with a case control design. The purpose of the study was to measure the urinary collagens IV (U-coll IV) and microalbumin (MA) level in early pregnancy and to explore the role of excretion U-coll IV in prediction of preeclampsia (PE). A total number of 119 pregnant women at 10-14 weeks of pregnancy were selected on the basis of availability. MA by immunoturbidimetry assay and U-coll IV by enzyme immunoassay method were measured in these subjects and they were followed up to the term for the possible development of PE. MA was defined by albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) above 32mg/g and high U-coll IV was defined by values above the cut-off point 2.74 ng/ml determined by the median value of the (controls). The data were analyzed by grouping the subjects who developed PE in later stages of pregnancy (the PE group) and those who did not develop PE in later stages (Control group). From the total subjects, 10 developed PE which shows a prevalence of about 8.4%. The PE group had higher value of ACR as compared to Control [ACR, mg/g, median (range), 42.3]. The sensitivity of ACR in predicting PE was 80%, specificity 49.54%, PPV 12.69% and NPV 96.42% respectively. The sensitivity of high U-coll IV in predicting PE was 70%, specificity 50.5%, PPV 11.5% and NPV 94.8%. It may be concluded that early pregnancy levels of MA and U-coll IV can be used as predictors of PE with high negative predictive value; and U-coll IV has no added advantage over MA in this respect.