Contents Visas straipsnis lietuvių kalba Full text article in English

Medicina 2004; 40 (3) 225-231

Prevalence of activated protein C resistance among women with recurrent miscarriage

Vytautas Abraitis, Renata Šimoliūnienė1, Aušra Mongirdienė2, Said Makari

Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaunas University of Medicine, 1Department of Physics, Mathematics and Biophysics, 2Institute of Cardiology, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: recurrent miscarriage, activated protein C resistance.

Summary. Since 1996 activated protein C resistance is closely associated with various obstetric pathologies. The most widely discussed is that of secondary infertility due to recurrent miscarriage. However, there is still widespread discussion about the role of activated protein C resistance in this and other obstetric pathologies.

Aim. To investigate whether the activated protein C resistance is a cause of early recurrent miscarriage.

Material and methods. A study was designed as a case-control study. Two study groups were formed. Group I included women who have experienced 2 or more miscarriages (61 patients), and Group II included women who have experienced 3 or more miscarriages (33 patients). We investigated the prevalence and compared it in the control and both study groups.

Results. In Group I activated protein C resistance was found for 8 patients (14.7%), in Group II – for 5 patients (16.5%), in the control group – in 4 cases (5%). By comparing different groups the prevalence of activated protein C resistance in Group I was statistically significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.05). The prevalence of activated protein C resistance in Group II and the control group as well as between both study groups was statistically non-significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion. Activated protein C resistance might be a factor behind spontaneous recurrent miscarriage. There was no statistically significant difference between women who had suffered from 2 or 3 spontaneous abortions.

Correspondence to V. Abraitis, Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital, Eivenių 2, 3007 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: vabraitis@delfi.lt

Received 6 October 2003, accepted 16 January 2004