Maternal serum ferritin at 11-to 13-week gestation in spontaneous early preterm delivery

Objective: To examine the potential value of maternal serum level of ferritin in the first trimester of pregnancy in the prediction of spontaneous early preterm delivery. Methods: Maternal serum concentration of ferritin at 11-13-week gestation was measured in a case-control study of singleton pregnancies delivering phenotypically normal neonates, including 30 cases with spontaneous delivery before 34 weeks and 90 matched controls delivering after 37 weeks. The median multiple of the median (MoM) serum ferritin in the two outcome groups was compared. Results: The median serum ferritin MoM was not significantly different in the spontaneous early preterm delivery group compared with the term delivery group (1.143, interquartile range [IQR] 0.578-2.383 vs. 1.059, IQR 0.641-1.644, p = 0.725). Conclusions: Measurement of maternal serum ferritin at 11-13 weeks is unlikely to be useful in screening for spontaneous early preterm delivery.