WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Noor Kamil Kadhim and Suhaila Fadhil Al-Sheikh

ABSTRACT

Background: Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is a glycoprotein whose origin during pregnancy is uncertain. It emerges during the first trimester and returns to non-pregnancy levels in late pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate any potential correlation between CA-125 levels in threatened miscarriage during the first trimester and pregnancy outcomes. Patients and Methods: A prospective case-control study was conducted on 165 women, including 79 women with threatened miscarriage (group 1) and 86 healthy pregnant women (group 2). The age of participants ranged from 13 to 43 years, with a mean age of 24.96 ± 5.86 years. Venous blood samples were collected to measure CA-125 levels and compare them between the two groups. The participants were followed up until 20 weeks of pregnancy to determine the outcome. Results: No significant difference in CA-125 levels was observed between the cases (15.50 ± 10.93) and controls (20.47 ± 35.61), with a P-value of 0.398. However, within the cases group, there was a highly significant difference in CA-125 levels between cases that continued their pregnancies and cases that ended in miscarriage (P < 0.001). Similarly, within the control group, CA-125 levels were significantly higher among those whose pregnancies ended in miscarriage compared to those who continued their pregnancies, with a P-value of 0.003. Conclusion: Statistically significant differences, indicated by higher CA-125 readings, were observed in pregnancies that ended in miscarriage in both the threatened miscarriage and control groups. This suggests that elevated CA-125 levels may indicate underlying trophoblastic injury, potentially leading to later miscarriage in the control group.