Sensitivity and Specificity of Placental Proteins for Gestational Age Screening: An Exploratory Study

Knowledge of gestational age (GA) is a key component of pregnancy care and in most settings, clinicians use ultrasound to confirm GA. However, ultrasound is expensive and time-consuming, must be performed by a trained technician, and is usually available only in specialized medical facilities. We explored the possibility that a blood or urine test could be used for this purpose. After collecting urine and serum samples from 245 pregnant people across gestational ages, we identified two placental proteins that could reliably identify pregnancies with GA >70 days, the current US GA limit for medical abortion, and exclude most earlier pregnancies.

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