Abstract
Aims
The cause of striae gravidarum is still unclear. The study objective was to test the hypothesis that relaxin is involved in the process of striae gravidarum appearance during pregnancy.
Methods
A prospective observational study in 32 pregnant women. Participants were observed at 12th, 24th and 36th gestational week. During each session, striae scoring was assessed and blood for relaxin estimation was withdrawn. The striae assessment was done according to Davey score. Serum relaxin was estimated using Relaxin ELISA kit (Immunodiagnostic AG, Bensheim, Germany).
Results
Serum relaxin levels decreased as the pregnancy advanced (585.9 ± 295.1, 424.2 ± 253.8, 402.1 ± 221.2 pg/ml, respectively) but this decrease did not attain statistical significance. Pregnant women with striae gravidarum had lower serum relaxin levels compared to those without striae gravidarum at 36th gestational weeks, 330.8 ± 175.2 vs 493.8 ± 245.8 pg/ml (P = 0.037), respectively. The severity of striae gravidarum during pregnancy did not correlate with serum relaxin levels.
Conclusion
Lower serum relaxin levels could contribute to the occurrence of striae gravidarum during pregnancy through decreased elasticity of the connective tissue.
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Acknowledgments
The study was partially supported by a Grant from the Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Community.
Conflict of interest statement
We declare that we have no conflict of interest and we state that we have had full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review the data if requested.
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Lurie, S., Matas, Z., Fux, A. et al. Association of serum relaxin with striae gravidarum in pregnant women. Arch Gynecol Obstet 283, 219–222 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-009-1332-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-009-1332-5