Diagnostic Performance of Maternal Serum Visfatin in Predicting Preterm Labor: Evidence from ROC Curve Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63939/80aaz067Keywords:
Visfatin; Preterm Labor, Adipokine, Inflammation, Biomarker, ROC Analysis;, PregnancyAbstract
Background: Spontaneous preterm birth remains a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Growing evidence suggests that inflammatory pathways play a significant role in the pathophysiology of spontaneous preterm birth. Phesfatin, a multifunctional adipokine with immunometabolic properties, has emerged as a potential biomarker associated with inflammatory activation during pregnancy. PTL is defined as birth occurring prior to the 37th week of pregnancy. It is one of the leading causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Objective: The present research explored the potential use of maternal serum visfatin as an early biomarker for diagnosis of spontaneously occurred PTL and evaluated its relationship with inflammation. Methodology: hospital-based case–control study was conducted between March and June 2025 in Basrah governorate, Iraq. Ninety pregnant women in the third trimester were enrolled, 60 of them with spontaneously occurred PTL and 30 healthy pregnant as a control matched according to their gestational age. Maternal serum concentrations of visfatin, were determined via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), and addition to the C-reactive protein estimated by biochemical analyzer and Total white blood cells (WBC) counts obtained with an automated hematology analyzer (markers of inflammation). Results: Concentration of visfatin was significantly higher in patients compared to control women (39.63 ± 8.35 vs. 21.15 ± 5.93 ng/mL; p < 0.001). The ROC curve indicated high diagnostic performance of maternal serum visfatin (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.962). The optimal cutoff value of visfatin of 27.7 ng/mL allowed predicting PTL with sensitivity and specificity equal to 93.3% and 90.0%,
respectively. In addition, there were strong correlations between visfatin levels and CRP and WBCs. According to multivariate analysis, visfatin was found to be an independent biomarker of spontaneously occurred PTL. Conclusions: The case study concluded that maternal serum visfatin levels are strongly associated with spontaneous preterm birth and activation of systemic inflammation. The diagnostic findings suggest that visfatin may be a promising adjunctive biomarker for identifying women at risk of spontaneous preterm birth. Large-scale, prospective, multicenter studies are needed to validate these findings and determine their clinical relevance.
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