At a Glance
Package: Advance Antenatal Profile. Tests: 52 parameters, 10 components. Price: From 1499. Fasting: 8–10 hours, for Blood Glucose Fasting and Insulin-Fasting. Sample: Blood and urine, single visit. Reports: 24 hours, digital. Home collection: Free across Faridabad. Lab: NABL-accredited. Two tests separate this from the Antenatal Profile: the full Thyroid Profile — Tri-Iodothyronine Total (TT3) and Thyroxine Total (TT4) alongside TSH — in place of the single TSH test, and Insulin-Fasting. That is the whole difference, 52 parameters across 10 components against 49 across 9. If your obstetrician has asked for neither, the Antenatal Profile covers identical ground. ## The Two Additions Thyroid Profile (3): TT3, TT4 and TSH. Maternal hypothyroidism affects fetal brain development, so this is standard in pregnancy; one in ten Indian adults is hypothyroid, women about three times as often as men, 15.86% against 5.02% (Unnikrishnan et al., IJEM, 2013;17(4):647–652). TSH alone catches most cases; TT3 and TT4 show where in the pathway the problem sits. Pregnancy shifts the ranges by trimester and binding proteins push total T3 and T4 up, so they need trimester-specific reading. Insulin-Fasting (1): circulating insulin on a fasting sample. Read against the fasting glucose it indicates insulin resistance, the mechanism behind gestational diabetes, which can be present while glucose still reads normal because the pancreas compensates. It does not diagnose gestational diabetes — that is the oral glucose tolerance test scheduled at 24–28 weeks. ## If the Kitchen Is Already Working at Five, Give the Sample First Both additions are fasting-dependent, and fasting insulin is uninterpretable on a non-fasting sample, so the 8–10 hours have to genuinely hold. In many Faridabad households the day starts well before a collection centre does, because someone leaves for an early shift — which means the pregnant woman is often up, cooking and on her feet while still unable to eat. Travelling afterwards stretches it further. An early doorstep slot inverts the order: blood and midstream urine first, breakfast immediately after. Free across NIT 3, NIT 5, Sector 9, Sector 16, Sector 28, Sector 31, Badkhal, Surajkund and Charmwood Village. ## This Is Not an Antenatal Protocol This profile supports antenatal care. It does not satisfy or replace an antenatal protocol, and it is not a first-trimester workup. Your obstetrician decides what belongs at which week. Two standard parts of Indian antenatal care are not in this profile at all: VDRL or RPR for syphilis, and rubella IgG. ## The Three Viral Tests Are Monitoring Assays This profile contains HIV - Quantitative (Viral Load), Hepatitis B Virus - Viral Load and Hepatitis C Virus- Viral Load. All three are viral load quantification assays: they measure how much virus is circulating in a person already known to carry that infection, to follow disease activity and treatment response. They do not establish whether an infection is present. Screening uses antibody and antigen tests — HIV 1&2 antibody, HBsAg and anti-HCV — which your obstetrician will advise on. ## Blood Grouping (A B O) and Rh Type The most consequential parameter in either antenatal profile. An Rh-negative mother carrying an Rh-positive baby can form antibodies against the baby's red cells, and in a later pregnancy those cross the placenta and destroy fetal red cells — haemolytic disease of the newborn. Anti-D immunoglobulin prophylaxis prevents nearly all of it, but only once the Rh status is documented. The ABO group is also required before any transfusion. ## Blood Picture - Peripheral Smear Examination The deliverable here is a sentence, not a number. Alongside Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, Platelets and Hemoparasites, a qualified pathologist writes an Impression — a conclusion from having looked at your cells, which no analyser produces. Each slide is prepared and read by hand, so the cost is pathologist time — the line item dropped to hold a price. What the findings carry: over 50% of Indian women aged 15–49 are anaemic (NFHS-5, 2019–21), and small pale microcytic cells point to iron deficiency, large macrocytic cells to B12 or folate deficiency, and sickle-shaped cells to sickle cell disease, which changes pregnancy management. Microcytic cells can also mean thalassaemia trait, which the slide cannot separate from iron deficiency — that needs a haemoglobin electrophoresis or HPLC test, not included here. White Blood Cells can show blast cells that raise the question of leukaemia, Platelets separates a genuinely low count from clumping an analyser read as one, and Hemoparasites looks for malarial parasites, relevant in Delhi NCR where malaria and dengue are endemic. ## The Other 3 Components CBC with ESR (21): haemoglobin, red cell indices, white cell differential, platelets and ESR — the anaemia and infection baseline, read with the smear. Complete Urine Analysis (17): protein, glucose, nitrites, leukocytes and pus cells. Urinary infection in pregnancy is often symptomless, and urine protein is part of pre-eclampsia surveillance; the routine test detects overt protein but not microalbuminuria, which needs a separate urine microalbumin or albumin-creatinine ratio test. Blood Glucose Fasting (1): under 100 mg/dL normal, 100–125 prediabetes, 126 and above diabetes (ADA Standards of Care, 2024). ## Sources NFHS-5, 2019–21 · Unnikrishnan et al., IJEM, 2013;17(4):647–652 · ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes, 2024 Content last reviewed: October 2026
