Prevalence and role of antithrombin III, protein C and protein S deficiencies and activated protein C resistance in Kosovo women with recurrent pregnancy loss during the first trimester of pregnancy

Abstract

Context: Several studies have reported that thrombophilia is responsible for recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and role of inherited thrombophilia in early pregnancy loss, specifically in the first trimester. Materials and Methods: A total of 104 women (patients) with a history of two or more miscarriages during the first trimester of pregnancy and 110 women (controls) who had experienced two or more births without a miscarriage were included in this study. In both groups, we determined the biological activities of antithrombin III (ATIII) and protein C (PC) using the chromogenic method and the biological activity of protein S (PS) and the activated protein C resistance (APCR) were examined using a clotting method. Results: In the patient group, deficiencies of ATIII, PC, and PS were detected in 3 (2.88%), 4 (3.85%), and 6 (5.77%) cases, respectively. In the control group, ATIII (0%) deficiencies were not detected, and deficiencies for PC (0.9%) and PS (0.9%) were each detected in 1 patient. APCR was detected in 9 patients (8.65%) and 4 control subjects (3.63%). Conclusion: Based on our results, we can conclude that thrombophilia is a causal factor for miscarriages in the first trimester of pregnancy, although there are the conflicting data in the literature.

Keywords

• Activated protein C resistance
• antithrombin III
• early pregnancy loss
• protein C
• protein S
• repeated miscarriages
• thrombophilia