Background: The fetal adrenal gland receives rising awareness as a predictor of spontaneous preterm birth. We hereby provide longitudinal growth assessments of the fetal adrenal gland in a low risk population with an additional focus on trajectories in fetuses born preterm.
Methods: Fetal adrenal gland was assessed via transabdominal ultrasound at gestational weeks (gw) 24-26, 28-30, and 34-36 in a low-risk pregnancy cohort. Longitudinal trajectories of the total gland and the mark (so called fetal zone) as well as ratio of fetal zone width/ total widths (w/W) were analyzed using repeated ANOVA analyses. To compare trajectories of the ratio w/W for preterm and term fetuses respectively, as well as women with and without clinical signs of preterm labor, the propensity score method was applied.
Results: Fetal zone width increased over the course of pregnancy (p < 0.0001), while the ratio w/W decreased (p < 0.0001) (n = 327). Comparing the trajectories of the ratio w/W in fetuses born preterm (n = 11) with propensity-score matched term born fetuses (n = 22), a decrease between gw 24-26 and 28-30 was observed in both groups, which continued to decrease for the term born fetuses. However, in preterm born fetuses, the ratio increased above the term born values at gw 34-36.
Conclusion: Our study provides for the first time longitudinal growth data on the fetal adrenal gland and supports the hypothesis that fetal zone enlargement is associated with preterm birth which could play an important role in risk-prediction.
Keywords: Adrenal gland; Fetal adrenal gland; Fetal ultrasound; Fetal zone; HPA-axis; Preterm birth; Preterm labour.