Vasopressin level testing for predicting the outcome of threatened premature birth

Introduction . To date, premature birth (РВ) remains one of the main problems in modern obstetrics. The scientific world community continues to search for an affordable, universal, cost-effective method for РВ prediction, which served as the basis for conducting current study. Aim : assessing an opportunity for diagnosing and predicting an outcome of threatened РВ by studying the blood serum vasopressin level in relation to changes in pain scores analyzed by visual analog scale (VAS). Materials and Methods. A prospective observational randomized study was carried out. In 120 pregnant women, vasopressin level in the venous blood serum was examined in relation to changes in VAS-based pain levels. Main group consisted of 65 patients with complaints of pulling pains in the lower abdomen upon admission to the obstetric hospital, 31 of them with threatened РВ, in whom pregnancy was preserved (main group A) and 34 who gave birth prematurely (main group B). The control group included 55 women with term delivery. Results . During the development of spontaneous labor, blood serum vasopressin level dynamically increased that was directly proportional to rise in VAS-based pain scores. A statistically significant relation between changes in blood serum vasopressin level and outcome of threatened PB has been established. Thus, a dynamic decrease in vasopressin concentration from the baseline level in patients with threatened PB (from 0.323 ± 0.046 ng/ml to 0.158 ± 0.034 ng/ml) points at possibility of pregnancy prolongation, whereas increase in vasopressin concentration from the baseline level was noted in patients with PB (from 0.117 ± 0.020 ng/ml to 0.364 ± 0.070 ng/ml). Conclusion . Studying the dynamics of blood serum vasopressin level allows to use this parameter for prediction of threatened PB outcome.