Does endometrial thickness affect birth weight and serum levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A in frozen cycles?

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether endometrial thickness (EMT) affects birth weight and maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) level in singleton pregnancies following frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer (FET).

Methods: This retrospective study included women who underwent first-trimester combined screening for aneuploidy after FET, and subsequently delivered a singleton live birth after 24 weeks of gestation at a private in-vitro fertilization centre. The subjects were stratified into three groups based on EMT percentiles: <7.7 mm (<10th percentile), 7.7-12 mm (10-90th percentile), and > 12 mm (>90th percentile). Multi-variable linear regression analysis was undertaken to identify the association between birth weight and EMT after adjusting for variables with p < 0.1 on univariate analysis.

Results: In total, 560 women met the inclusion criteria. Mean (±standard deviation) birth weight was 3127 ± 783 g in those with EMT < 7.7 mm, 3225 ± 644 g in those with EMT 7.7-12 mm, and 3256 ± 599 g in those with EMT > 12 mm (p = 0.577). Mean PAPP-A and PAPP-A < 0.5 rates were similar in the three groups. On multi-variate analysis, maternal serum PAPP-A was found to be a significant predictor of birth weight (p = 0.013), but EMT was not found to be predictive of birth weight on univariate or multi-variate analysis.

Conclusion: This study provided a new angle to evaluate the association between EMT and neonatal birth weight by analysing this association along with maternal serum PAPP-A as a marker for placental function, suggesting that EMT is not an independent factor for neonatal birth weight.

Keywords: Assisted reproductive treatment; Birth weight; Endometrial thickness; Frozen–thawed blastocyst transfer; Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A.