Serum Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies among Women with Recurrent Abortions in Diyala Province

Abstract

Anticardiolipin antibodies (ACL) are heterogenous group of autoantibodies directed against negatively charged phospholipid and phospholipid binding proteins. They gained much attention due to their association with pregnancy failure, particularly recurrent fetal loss. Objectives:To investigate the relevance of positive ACL antibodies with recurrent abortion among women in Diyala province and to explore the effect of certain co-factors. Materials and methods:The study groups include, 45 pregnant women with previous history of recurrent abortion (mean age 29.3 ± 6.7) years; 60 pregnant women without previous abortion (mean age 28 ± 6.1) years; 50 non-pregnant women with history of recurrent abortion (mean age 29.7 ± 6) years and 60 non-pregnant women without history of previous abortion (mean age 31.5 ± 7.2) years. Required information were collected by personal interview. Detection of ACL-IgM and ACL-IgG were done using ELISA technique. Results:The results showed that the seropositivity of ACL-IgM among pregnant women with recurrent abortion and without abortion was 30% and 3.3% respectively. While the seropositivity of ACL-IgM among non-pregnant women with previous abortion and those without abortion was 20% and 0% respectively. The ACL-IgG among non-pregnant women without previous abortion and those with previous abortion was 0% and 35% respectively. Conclusion:Anticardiolipin antibodies may play as a cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion among women in Diyala province.