Serum Endocan Levels in Patients Diagnosed With Missed Abortion: A Case-control Study

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

Background: This case-control study explored circulating endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (endocan), a marker of vascular impairment, in women diagnosed with missed abortion and compared the findings with those of healthy pregnant controls. In addition, the associations between serum endocan levels and two oxidative stress markers, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO), were assessed. Methods: A total of 83 participants were divided into two cohorts: the missed abortion group (n = 44) and the control group (n = 39), each comprising of women with a singleton intrauterine pregnancy. Serum levels of endocan, MDA, and NO were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Women with missed abortion exhibited significantly elevated serum concentrations of endocan (p = 0.029), NO (p = 0.011), and MDA (p = 0.021) compared with the control group. Endocan levels showed strong positive correlations with NO (r = 0.795, p < 0.001) and MDA (r = 0.685, p < 0.001). A similar positive correlation was observed between NO and MDA (r = 0.685, p < 0.001). In multivariate regression analysis, both MDA (β = 0.26, t = 3.00, p = 0.004) and NO (β = 0.61, t = 6.94, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of serum levels. Conclusions: Serum levels of endocan, NO, and MDA were higher in women diagnosed with missed abortion than in healthy pregnant controls. These findings support the presence of endothelial dysfunction in missed abortion. Study Registration: The study has been registered on https://zenodo.org/ (registration number: zenodo. 17910736; registration link: https://zenodo.org/records/17910736).