Fibrinogen is increased during pregnancy, normal

Why is fibrinogen important during pregnancy? What is the norm in the third trimester that allows a woman to give birth without risking her life? Each of these questions is considered important, since information literacy of the mother in labor will help to avoid bleeding and threats to life during labor.

Expecting a baby during pregnancy is always a miracle. Gynecologists monitor the woman’s health throughout the entire pregnancy and help her give birth to a healthy child. The 3rd trimester is an important period during which the body begins to actively prepare for childbirth. At this stage, the doctor prescribes a lot of examinations to understand how the body will react to an unusual situation. One of the important diagnostics is checking hemostasis - the body’s ability to stop bleeding in the event of vascular injuries.

What is fibrinogen and what is its role in the body?

Fibrogen is a specific protein found in the blood plasma that is synthesized by liver cells. After the protein enters the blood plasma, it is immediately converted into fibrin. This enzyme ensures faster blood clotting in the body of living beings.

Attention! The main function of fibrinogen is to prevent the formation of thrombosis and improve blood circulation through the venous system. Therefore, pregnant women should regularly undergo tests to determine this indicator, and if it deviates from the norm, take measures to improve its functioning.

During pregnancy, the amount of plasma in the body of the expectant mother increases. This is due to the birth of a new life and the need to provide it with additional blood flow. In parallel with the increase in blood volume, the substances contained in it also increase, including the increase in the level of fibrinogen.

Due to the fact that during gestation a huge restructuring of the entire hormonal background occurs in the body of the expectant mother, the protein level can noticeably increase or decrease. The jumps are especially noticeable when carrying twins or triplets.

The consequences of exceeding normal levels of fibrinogen are excessive internal bleeding, which is most dangerous in the last stages of pregnancy. Therefore, it is so important for all expectant mothers to do tests for the quantitative content of fibrinogen in the blood.

Fibrinogen during pregnancy

It seems to the expectant mother that there will be no end to various analyzes and studies. They are constantly measuring new indicators that most women had never heard of before expecting a baby. For example, the level of fibrinogen in pregnant women - what is this indicator and what are its norms? Let's look into this issue.

Definition

Fibrinogen is a protein produced by the liver that helps blood clot. It is thanks to it that clots are formed - blood clots, which prevent severe blood loss during bleeding.

Human life largely depends on the balance of all systems in the body. Excess or deficiency of any element can cause serious health consequences. The period of waiting for a baby is no exception. At this time, you need to constantly monitor the work of all organs and systems, and in case of failures, help normalize all functions as quickly as possible. The blood clotting system is very important for the health of the expectant mother. The closer the due date, the higher the level of fibrinogen in the blood becomes. The birth process involves blood loss of varying intensity, so the body’s ability to stop bleeding in time is simply necessary.

Normal during pregnancy

The level of this protein is determined using a conventional blood test from a vein on an empty stomach, which is called a Coagulogram (hemostasiogram). This test must be taken during all three trimesters of pregnancy.

Fibrinogen level

Fibrinogen is increased during pregnancy: what does this mean?

Too high levels of fibrinogen during pregnancy indicate blood thickening and too much density.

This can contribute to the formation of blood clots in blood vessels, including those of the placenta.

And this may entail a decrease in the ability of this important organ to pass oxygen and nutrients to the child.

It turns out that the child may be stunted and suffer from hypoxia in utero.

In addition, high fibrinogen sometimes indicates pathologies in the body of the expectant mother, such as:

inflammatory processes caused by infections and viruses;
gradual tissue death;
malignant tumors;
pneumonia.

But don’t be alarmed if a blood test shows an increased concentration of fibrinogen. Most often this is due to the individual characteristics of the pregnant woman’s body.

Increased blood clotting may also be a consequence of taking medications with estrogen in the past, recent surgery, or burns.

Fibrinogen is reduced during pregnancy: reasons

Low fibrinogen contributes to blood thinning due to poor blood clotting. During pregnancy, this is dangerous due to placental abruption, but, fortunately, these are isolated cases.

However, there may be a disruption in the functioning of this organ and problems with the baby’s intrauterine development.

A woman who has been diagnosed with low fibrinogen may be diagnosed with the following disorders in the body:

Acute deficiency of vitamins C and B2;
Hepatitis;
DIC syndrome (active neutralization of thromboplastic substances in the blood);
Complicated late toxicosis (preeclampsia).

In most cases, low fibrinogen in the blood of a pregnant woman is due to acute gestosis . This is a negative condition in the late stages of pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman suffers from headaches, high blood pressure, “fly spots” flashing before her eyes and overall poor health.

Preeclampsia has many causes and can negatively affect the condition of a developing child.

How to lower/increase fibrinogen during pregnancy?

If a deviation from the norm in the level of fibrinogen in the blood is caused by a certain disease or pathology, then treatment is aimed primarily at neutralizing the cause . The doctor prescribes a certain therapy, and with successful treatment, the fibrinogen level returns to normal by itself.

You can “help” fibrinogen normalize if you consume certain foods (of course, those that are not harmful during pregnancy).

With an increased concentration of fibrinogen, you should include in your menu foods that help thin the blood and cleanse blood vessels: these are raspberries, strawberries, sweet peppers, beets, seafood, sea fish, tomatoes, seaweed, cucumbers, lemons.

As for drinks, it will be very useful to drink large-leaf green tea, cranberry juice, a decoction of chestnut and peony root.

With reduced blood clotting, in order to increase its thickness and ability to clot, regular consumption of buckwheat, bananas, potatoes, eggs, walnuts, spinach, soy, all types of cabbage (except sea cabbage), and various grains will be effective.

If there are no problems with the kidneys or severe swelling during pregnancy, you can afford various pickles. Decoctions of St. John's wort , yarrow and nettle also increase the ability of blood to clot.

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Both with increased and decreased levels of fibrinogen in the blood, you should not prescribe treatment yourself. Only a specialist will be able to select the optimal methods of therapy and recommend how to adjust the diet to bring the tests back to normal.

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What is fibrinogen?

Fibrinogen is a colorless protein dissolved in blood plasma. Produced in the liver, it becomes insoluble fibrin, which is the basis for the formation of blood clots. Completing the blood clotting process, it forms a blood clot. Fibrinogen is very important for the human body: it takes part in resistance to bacteria, helping phagocytes, acts as a blocker of proteinases, plays an important role in the process of blood clotting, as well as tissue repair. Violation of fibrinogen levels in the blood can lead to very serious consequences, including the death of the patient.

Norm

In a healthy adult, the amount of fibrinogen in the blood should be from 2 to 4 grams per liter.
In infants, this figure ranges from 1.25 to 3 grams per liter.
In pregnant women, the amount of fibrinogen depends on the trimester of pregnancy:
first trimester – 2.98 grams per liter;
second trimester – 3.1 grams per liter;
third trimester – up to 6-7 grams per liter.

In the first trimester, a slight decrease in fibrinogen is associated with toxicosis, but after three months of pregnancy it begins to grow steadily, reaching its maximum before childbirth. This increase in indicators is due to the fact that during childbirth a woman loses a certain amount of blood (if the birth is difficult or pathological, then it can be quite large), so the body increases its ability to clot blood in order to avoid death from its loss.

An increase in fibrinogen during pregnancy above the normal level can lead to extremely negative consequences:

spontaneous abortion (early pregnancy);
undeveloped pregnancy;

Decreased fibrinogen

We all know from school that one of the most valuable components of the human body is blood. I think each of us at least once thought, looking at a scratch or cut, what makes the bleeding gradually stop?

One of the devices aimed at preserving this precious fluid is the hemostasis system or blood coagulation system. The first teachings about this complex physiological process were described by the Soviet scientist G.F. Lang in 1939. We now know that hemostasis is a complex of reactions aimed at stopping bleeding during vascular injury. All these numerous transformations are regulated by a huge number of proteins, enzymes and catalysts, one of which is fibrinogen, which will be discussed in our article.

Fibrinogen and blood coagulation system

Information So, fibrinogen is a protein produced by the liver and converted into insoluble fibrin - the basis of the clot during blood clotting. Subsequently, blood cells “stick” to the fibrin matrix, the clot stabilizes and forms a full-fledged thrombus.

Fibrinogen research technique

A laboratory test for blood clotting is called
a coagulogram or hemostasiogram .
This test can determine both fibrinogen and several other important indicators of hemostasis. Venous blood is most often used to determine fibrinogen levels. To obtain the most accurate results, the patient must:

Donate blood on an empty stomach (last meal no earlier than 12 hours before the test);
Avoid physical activity and stress for 1-2 hours;
Do not smoke for 30-40 minutes.

Next, the laboratory assistant places the blood collected with a syringe into a special test tube, the walls of which are treated with a solution of citric acid salts. This is necessary to prevent clotting. From the resulting portion of blood, its liquid part, plasma, must be obtained, which is needed for the study of fibrinogen. Laboratories use a variety of test systems and determine fibrinogen using different methods:

Optical;

What fibrinogen level is considered normal during pregnancy?

Caring nature has provided for all the details, so during gestation in the first trimester of pregnancy, the level of fibrinogen decreases noticeably. This function is designed to ensure that the embryo can easily obtain all the necessary nutrients and elements from the blood by increasing blood fluidity.

In the early stages of pregnancy, the placenta is just beginning to develop, and new blood vessels, including placental ones, are forming. By the second trimester, the vessels strengthen and become more or less durable. Now the mother’s body is ready to move on to other equally important functions, namely preparation for the upcoming birth. To do this, the blood must have a thick consistency to avoid unnecessary loss. The closer the due date, the higher the level of fibronogen.

That is why, at different stages of pregnancy, doctors set different standards for fibrinogen indicator (in g/l):

1 - 13 weeks of pregnancy - 2.12 - 4.33;
13 - 21 weeks - 2.90 - 5.30;
21 - 29 weeks - 3 - 5.70;
29 - 35 weeks - 3.20 - 5.70;
35 - 42 weeks - 3.50 - 6.50.

Rules for taking the analysis, norm indicators

Determination of fibrinogen during pregnancy in medicine is called a coagulogram or hemostasiogram. This technique helps the doctor see the amount of fibrinogen and other important indicators for blood clotting. To conduct the study, venous blood is taken from the woman. To get the right results, you need to prepare for the study.

To do this you need:

Do not eat food 12 hours before the test.
Don't worry, avoid physical activity 2-3 hours before the procedure.
If a woman smokes, then you need to abstain from the addiction 1 hour before the test.

The methods for studying the obtained material are different in each laboratory, but the norm of fibrinogen for a pregnant woman varies within the following limits:

1st trimester – 2.5 – 5.0 g/l;
2nd trimester – 2.4-5.1 g/l;
3rd trimester – 3.7-6.1 g/l.

A normal indicator can be considered if deviations are visible to the left or right by 0.5 units.

As can be seen from the indicators, the 3rd trimester is the peak increase in protein concentration in the blood. This process is due to the fact that a new organism is fully formed inside a woman, therefore additional protein resources are needed for its work, supplying the placenta and uterus with all substances with the help of blood.

The end of the 3rd trimester is the maximum peak of the indicator, which allows women to avoid bleeding during childbirth.

Reasons for deviation from the norm:

- promotions

Reference! If the normal fibrinogen level is elevated at a certain period of gestation, this may indicate severe dehydration of the body. The problem is most relevant in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Dehydration can occur for the following reasons:

Severe toxicosis with profuse vomiting, as a result of which a large amount of fluid accumulated by the body is lost;
Infectious diseases that also contribute to the removal of fluid from the body. A common flu or acute respiratory viral infection can permanently disable the entire mother’s body.
Exacerbation of chronic diseases leads to the loss of a huge amount of water to fight infection.
Stress, frequent worries and worries. These factors contribute to rapid thickening of the blood and an increase in the level of fibrinogen in its composition.
Increased physical activity.

High concentrations of fibrinogen may also indicate problems with the thyroid gland, blood vessels and heart. In some cases, elevated levels of the substance may be caused by pneumonia or rheumatoid arthritis. Often with thrombophlebitis and rheumatism, this situation also occurs.

The most dangerous is the increase in fibrinogen in response to the proliferation of malignant cells in the body. Recently, more and more pregnant women have been diagnosed with malignant tumors.

- reductions

Fibrinogen levels may decrease due to the following reasons:

gestosis;
pathological deficiency of vitamin B12 in the body;
presence of disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome;
hepatitis.

Frequent reasons for a decrease in plasma protein levels are recent injuries or severe burns suffered by a woman. During surgical operations, the expectant mother may also lose a large amount of blood, which inevitably affects the analysis with a reduced content of protein compounds in the plasma. Various intoxications of the body, including toxicosis in the first stages of pregnancy, can significantly influence the underestimation of this indicator.

Advantages and disadvantages of hemostasiogram characteristics

The advantage of the coagulogram characteristics is their general availability and low cost of analysis. They make it possible to quickly detect most of the probable pathologies of hemostasis and react in a timely manner, thereby reducing the threat to the life of the mother and baby.

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The disadvantage of such a laboratory examination is that in some cases, with the support of simple characteristics of the hemostasiogram, it is not possible to clearly establish the root cause of coagulation pathologies. In this case, an auxiliary study is carried out.

In addition, obtaining the results of a coagulogram requires a lot of time, while in some cases, in order to establish a treatment strategy, a rapid diagnosis of hemostatic pathology is necessary. In addition, one of the shortcomings of the hemostasiogram is that the result does not provide an accurate assessment of blood clotting in general.

During pregnancy, significant changes occur in the physiology of a woman’s body. One of these changes is considered to be a version of the concept of hemostasis, aimed at eliminating bleeding during pregnancy and birth of a child. In this regard, fibrinogen is always increased during pregnancy.

To fully assess the picture of coagulation during pregnancy, the hemostasiogram is analyzed more than once, but with the onset of a new trimester. Only a doctor can interpret the result correctly and completely; they often have to answer the question of worried ladies who see in their results that fibrinogen is increased, and what does this mean?

In the first trimester, the normal level of fibrinogen is even lower than that of a normal person, on average 2.98 g/l. The reason for this is toxicosis; a woman often experiences malaise, nausea and vomiting, which causes slight depletion of the body, and sometimes quite serious.

If fibrinogen is elevated in the first trimester, this signals the appearance of an inflammatory process in the body. To accurately find out the reasons, the attending physician must prescribe additional tests and studies to his patient in order to find out the cause of the inflammatory process and extinguish it in a timely manner. Any infection or inflammation can have a detrimental effect on the development of the fetus, so it is very important to prescribe treatment in a timely manner.

In the second trimester, the normal fibrinogen level is 3.1 g/l. And by the end of the third trimester it already reaches 6 g/l.

If fibrinogen levels are elevated in the second trimester of pregnancy, this can have very serious consequences.

Fibrinogen levels can be elevated throughout pregnancy, and this is evidence of dangerous diseases and deviations from the normal development of pregnancy.

If fibrinogen is increased in the second trimester of pregnancy, then, most likely, there may be an increased formation of platelets in the body, which also, of course, is fraught with the appearance of blood clots. During this period, most women come to their senses after a long painful period of toxicosis, their condition and tests are normalized. If this does not happen, then everything indicates the presence of serious deviations in the development of pregnancy, since increased thrombosis affects the level of placental patency. If the walls of the placenta become thick, then oxygen and nutrients are more difficult to pass to the fetus and inhibit its development.

If fibrinogen is elevated in the third trimester, this indicates the presence of a serious lung pathology. In the third trimester, the level of fibrinogen reaches a maximum, which is within the normal range - 6 g/l of blood. If this indicator is significantly exceeded, then such a pregnant woman should be given birth by resuscitators in a special ward or clinic, since in such a situation a fatal outcome is likely for both the mother and the baby due to pulmonary artery thrombosis.

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Very high fibrinogen during pregnancy indicates very strong blood thickness and density. This is very dangerous because it is fraught with the formation of blood clots both in the vessels of the mother and in the vessels of the placenta. This is dangerous for the baby because, due to the placenta being too dense, oxygen and nutrients in the required quantities will not be able to reach him; as a result, such babies experience developmental delays and chronic fetal hypoxia.

What is dangerous about a deviation in fibrinogen levels from normal?

A slight deviation of fibrinogen from the norm is easily treatable and should not cause severe anxiety in the expectant mother. If you pay attention to the problem in time, it can be quickly corrected. But if doctors make mistakes in the patient’s test results and do not take appropriate action in a timely manner, then prolonged and significant excess of the norm can lead to spontaneous miscarriage, stopping its development in the womb and the birth of a child with various abnormalities and defects. Too thick blood becomes the culprit of thrombosis of the uteroplacental vessels, which can also lead to fetal death.

For the maternal body, high fibrinogen poses a risk of developing thrombophlebitis and pulmonary artery thrombosis, which is fatal. In any case, exceeding the norm always leads to difficulty in the outflow of blood and the supply of it to the baby’s body. As a result, the child is deprived of some nutrients and microelements. He may be catastrophically lacking oxygen, which in turn provokes intrauterine growth retardation and leads to hepoxia.

Important! Although a decrease in fibrinogen levels is found in expectant mothers much less often than an increase, this state of affairs is not acceptable. In addition, a low content of protein compounds poses a greater risk to the health of the mother and child due to the fact that liquid blood becomes a provocateur of severe bleeding and total blood loss.

How to normalize fibrinogen levels:

- at increased values

Depending on the degree of protein deviation from the norm, appropriate measures are taken to normalize it in the blood plasma. With a slight increase in protein, a woman only needs to adjust her lifestyle and diet. It is important to remain calm, not to be nervous and to avoid stressful situations.

Sleep and drinking regimen are an important factor in normalizing the level of fibrinogen in the blood. The duration of sleep should be approximately 9 hours a day, and even more if a woman wishes. It is important to learn to feel, understand your body and respond to its urges with approval. If the expectant mother wants to sleep, regardless of the time of the desire, then she needs to lie down and rest. Even if sleep does not come, relaxation and distraction from thoughts will already bring great health benefits.

A woman should drink enough water per day to avoid swelling. At the same time, you need to supply the body with water in sufficient quantities to avoid dehydration and thickening of the blood.

It is advisable to include more fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet. Fresh red tomatoes, sea buckthorn, zucchini, cabbage and cranberries are especially good for the expectant mother. All these products amazingly thin the blood and bring fibrinogen levels to normal levels.

Attention! A woman’s diet must include a variety of freshly squeezed juices. It is important to drink beetroot juice daily, which has the effect of thinning thickened protein compounds.

Birch sap in season gives a good effect. The doctor may also prescribe additional medications for the woman, such as vitamin complexes of the appropriate composition, B vitamins, folic acid and a small amount of aspirin.

If after all the procedures performed, the protein level does not return to normal, then a hematologist is involved in the treatment process, who prescribes special drugs in the form of anticoagulants. Their dosage regimen is determined individually for each pregnant woman.