Circulating Growth Differentiation Factor 15 and Preeclampsia: A Meta-Analysis

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Medicine
• Biomarkers
• Maternal Health

Background:

• Preeclampsia poses significant risks to maternal and fetal health.
• Previous studies on Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15) as a preeclampsia biomarker yielded inconsistent findings.
• A comprehensive meta-analysis is needed to clarify the role of GDF-15 in preeclampsia.

Approach:

• Systematic literature search of major electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfang, CNKI).
• Inclusion of 11 observational studies involving 498 preeclampsia cases and 2349 controls.
• Quality assessment using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and meta-analysis using a randomized-effect model.

Key Points:

• Women with preeclampsia exhibit significantly higher circulating GDF-15 levels at diagnosis compared to normal pregnancies (SMD: 0.66, p=0.01).
• Elevated GDF-15 levels were also observed prior to preeclampsia diagnosis in affected women (SMD: 1.32, p=0.003).
• Subgroup analyses confirmed consistent findings across different preeclampsia subtypes and study qualities.

Conclusions:

• Circulating GDF-15 is a reliable indicator of preeclampsia.
• Elevated GDF-15 levels detected before clinical diagnosis suggest its potential as an early predictive biomarker for preeclampsia.