Test gives clue to risk of stillbirth

Blood may reveal placenta problem
Lindsey Tanner - Associated Press

Nov. 10, 2004 12:00 AM 

CHICAGO - A blood test early in pregnancy might help determine whether a woman
runs an increased risk of having a stillborn baby, a preliminary study found.

If the findings are confirmed, doctors could use such information to decide 
whether to induce labor to try to save the baby, the researchers said.

The test detects a protein that in low levels is believed to signal that the 
placenta, which supplies nourishment to the fetus, is not functioning properly. 

About one in 200 U.S. births are stillbirths, or babies born dead after about 
the 20th week of pregnancy.

Up to now, there has been no diagnostic method to determine which women are most 
likely to have a stillbirth, though high blood pressure, diabetes and older age 
are known to increase the risk.

High-risk women are more closely watched during late pregnancy, and fetal heart 
monitors and ultrasound imaging look for signs that the fetus is in trouble.

The study appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. The 
study involved 7,934 Scottish women given blood tests during the first 10 weeks 
of pregnancy.