PAPP-A as a Screening Tool for Assessment of Gestational Age Before Medication Abortion in an Intended-Use Population

Biomarkers In Medicine; 11 Apr 2023; Online ahead of print; doi: https://doi.org/10.2217/bmm-2022-0653

Introduction: Prior studies indicate that PAPP-A could serve as a marker of gestational age (GA) with the potential to determine eligibility for medication abortion. The authors validated the relationship between PAPP-A and GA in an actual-use population.

Materials & methods: The authors collected blood samples, medical histories and ultrasound-determined GA from patients presenting for abortion services. They measured PAPP-A using two immunoassays and assessed diagnostic accuracy for predicting GA ≥71 days.

Results: The Ansh Labs and R&D Systems immunoassays produced an area under the ROC curve of 0.982 (95% CI: 0.958–0.994) and 0.986 (95% CI: 0.963–0.996), respectively, for predicting GA ≥71 days.

Conclusion: This validation study in an intended-use population confirmed that PAPP-A has a strong ability to distinguish pregnancies above and below 71 days' gestation.