Human chorionic gonadotrophin and pregnancy-specific beta-1-glycoprotein in predicting pregnancy outcome and in association with early pregnancy vomiting.

Serum concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and pregnancy-specific beta 1-glycoprotein (SP1) were measured in 99 women between the 6th and 10th gestational week, before the onset of pregnancy-threatening complications. The markers failed to predict threatening abortion appearing 9-112 days after sampling (n = 11), regardless of whether the pregnancy continued (n = 2) or ended with abortion (n = 9). Normal HCG and SP1 values were observed in 4 women who subsequently had preterm delivery. 14 women with daily vomiting had higher mean serum concentrations of HCG (p less than 0.01) and SP1 (p less than 0.05) than 12 women of the same gestational duration without nausea or vomiting. Our results thus show that random single HCG or SP1 determinations have minimal clinical value in predicting the failure of pregnancy and that early pregnancy vomiting seems to be associated with raised serum HCG and SP1 concentrations.