Role of Single Serum Progesterone Level in Predicting Continuation of Pregnancy in Early Threatened Miscarriage

The present study was a hospital based prospective study conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IOG, Madras Medical College and affiliated to The Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai. The study was undertaken to evaluate the role of single Serum progesterone levels on day of threatened miscarriage to predicting continuation of pregnancy The study involved 160 study participants, pregnant women with less than or equal to 12 weeks of gestation with complaint of spotting or bleeding PV. Patients with Pregnant mother more than 12 week of gestation, Inevitable miscarriage, Ectopic pregnancy, Multiple Pregnancy, Molar Pregnancy, Pregnancy by artificial reproductive technique, Anomalous uterus, Multiple Fibroid complicating pregnancy[except sub serosal type] were excluded from the study. After obtaining informed consent basic socio demographic and clinical history was recorded.3 ml of venous blood was collected from the pregnant women. Serum progesterone and hemoglobin levels were assessed from the obtained blood samples. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS software package (Version 24). Graphs and tables were generated using Microsoft Excel. The results from our present study showed that the mean age for the study participants was 25.3± 4.08 years. Majority (76.6%) of the participants were in the age group between 20-30 years of age. Primi mothers constituted 47.5% of the study population. The most common presenting symptom in the study population was bleeding vaginum and Spotting per vaginum which constituted 46% of the total study population each. Anemia was observed in 22.6 % of the study population. The mean hemoglobin value was 10.23±1.1g/dl. The mean serum progesterone value was 19.76±9.3 ng/ml. Our findings suggest that increased values of serum progesterone levels had a significant association with the continuation of pregnancy while no significant association was noted between hemoglobin levels, body mass index and outcome of pregnancy. The rate of abortion was significantly lower among participants with serum progesterone levels more than 15 ng/ml. The sensitivity and specificity of serum progesterone levels in predicting outcome of pregnancy was 93.4% (95% CI: 86.99 - 96.76) and 87.04% (95% CI: 75.58 - 93.58) respectively. Our findings conclude that serum progesterone levels could be used as an effective diagnostic tool in aiding the diagnosis of viable pregnancies. The estimation of serum progesterone levels at a single point also alleviates the patients of inconvenient procedures and is also a cost effective alternative. The role of serum progesterone levels as a screening tool should also be further studied