Introduction: Our objective was to perform a meta-analysis examining the sensitivity of pulsatility index (PI) and various biomarkers and PI and mean arterial pressure (MAP) for the prediction of pre-eclampsia.
Material and methods: PubMed, CENTRAL, and Embase databases were searched from inception until 8 May 2014 using combinations of the search terms: pre-eclampsia, ultrasonography, pregnancy, biomarker, mean arterial pressure, placental protein 13, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, placental growth factor, activin A, inhibin A, pulsatility index. The pooled sensitivity of PI + biomarkers and PI + MAP were calculated, and reported with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: Fifteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity of all biomarkers for the prediction of pre-eclampsia was 0.669 (95% CI 0.610-0.723), for the prediction of early-onset pre-eclampsia was 0.830 (95% CI 0.794-0.861), and for the prediction of late-onset pre-eclampsia was 0.564 (95% CI 0.499-0.627). Similarly, the predictive ability of PI + MAP for early-onset pre-eclampsia was good (sensitivity 0.894), while that for late-onset was poor (sensitivity 0.570).
Conclusion: The combination of PI and different biomarkers or MAP exhibits a good predictive ability for early-onset pre-eclampsia, and poor predictive ability for late-onset pre-eclampsia.
Keywords: Biomarker; mean arterial pressure; meta-analysis; placental growth factor; placental protein 13; pre-eclampsia; pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A; pulsatility index.