Overview
- In a single-center study published in Blood Advances, Toronto researchers analyzed 83 pregnancies with sickle cell disease against 149 Black controls with at least one Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) measurement between 20 and 36 weeks.
- At 20–24 weeks’ gestation, a PlGF threshold of 87 pg/mL predicted early-onset preeclampsia in the sickle cell cohort with 100% sensitivity and specificity.
- The team reported a 20–24 week cut-off of 832 pg/mL for late-onset cases in this dataset, yet testing after 32 weeks did not reliably distinguish late-onset preeclampsia from unaffected pregnancies.
- Low PlGF was linked to maternal vascular malperfusion, a common placental injury associated with fetal growth restriction and worsened outcomes when preeclampsia was present.
- Given higher baseline obstetric risk in sickle cell disease, the authors emphasize the study’s single-center design and are conducting international validation and building a risk-assessment calculator.