ALBUMIN LEVELS IN PREGNANCY - A HYPOTHESIS - DECREASED LEVELS OF ALBUMIN ARE RELATED TO INCREASED LEVELS OF ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN

Serum albumin levels decrease during pregnancy while the concentration of most other maternal serum proteins of hepatic origin remain stable or increase. In a study of 289 women, most maternal characteristics s uch as race, age, smoking, a history of previous low birthweight, infa nt sex and gestational age at delivery were not related to maternal se rum albumin levels at 18 or 30 weeks' gestational age. The degree of m aternal obesity significantly correlated with the concentration of alb umin. There was a significant negative correlation in individual women between maternal serum levels of albumin and alpha-fetoprotein, with high levels of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein predicting lower level s of albumin. We hypothesize that there may be a negative feedback eff ect of alpha-fetoprotein of fetal origin on the maternal production of albumin during pregnancy.