Fetal Medicine Foundation Algorithm Can Predict Preeclampsia

WEDNESDAY, May 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The first-trimester Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF) screening test predicts 63.1 percent of preterm preeclampsia cases and 77.3 percent of early-onset preeclampsia cases, according to a study published online May 6 in Hypertension.

Paul Guerby, M.D., Ph.D., from Université Laval in Quebec City, and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study of nulliparous women recruited at 11 to 14 weeks to examine the FMF preterm preeclampsia screening test. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to estimate the detection rate (sensitivity) and the false-positive rate (1-specificity) for preterm and early-onset preeclampsia based on the FMF screening test and according to criteria from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

A total of 7,554 participants were recruited, of whom 97 percent remained eligible after 20 weeks. Overall, 0.9 and 0.3 percent developed preterm preeclampsia and early-onset preeclampsia, respectively. The researchers found that the detection rate was 63.1 and 77.3 percent for preterm preeclampsia and early-onset preeclampsia, respectively, using the FMF algorithm (cutoff of ≥1 in 110 for preterm preeclampsia), at a false-positive rate of 15.8 percent. The equivalent detection rates would have been 61.5 and 59.1 percent, respectively, using the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists criteria, for a false-positive rate of 34.3 percent.

"The FMF preeclampsia algorithm should be prioritized over other currently used algorithms," the authors write.

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