Association between unexplained thickened nuchal translucency and adverse pregnancy outcomes

Abstract

© 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Objective: To determine the association between unexplained increased nuchal translucency (INT) and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Patients and methods: The prospective database of our fetal down screening project was accessed to retrieve the records with NT measurement and complete follow-up. Pregnancies with pre-existing medical diseases, fetal chromosomal or structural abnormalities were excluded. The selected pregnancies were classified into the INT groups (> 95th percentile), the normal (< 95th percentile) group. Results: Of 6026 available for analysis (INT:277; and normal: 5749), the abortion rate was significantly higher in the INT group, 18/277 (6.5%) versus 55/5749 (1.0%); p < 0.001. After excluding 73 cases ending-up with abortion, a total of 5953 women were analyzed for final pregnancy outcomes, including 260 (4.4%), and 5693 (95.6%) in the study group (INT), and the control group (normal NT), respectively. The rates of pre-eclampsia (7.3 vs. 4.1%; p: 0.018), preterm birth (12.7 vs. 8.4%; p: 0.023), fetal growth restriction (11.5 vs. 7.6%; p: 0.032), and low birth weight (16.5 vs. 10.0%; p: 0.002) were slightly, but significantly higher in the study group. Conclusions: INT in the first trimester is associated with significantly increased risk of abortion, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, low birth weight and pre-eclampsia.