Recurrent miscarriage linked to a high risk of stillbirth and neonatal death

Peter Stone

Recurrent miscarriage is a devastating condition that results in the repeated loss of a pregnancy before 20 weeks gestation. For many women who finally manage to sustain a pregnancy, there may be further complications and heartaches ahead.

Professor Peter Stone recently completed a study of 1,012 women who attended the Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic (RMC) at National Women’s Hospital in Auckland between 1986 and 2003. The aim was to compare women attending the RMC with women in the general population who gave birth at National Women’s Hospital, and determine the characteristics of each.

The retrospective study showed that women attending the RMC were older than the general obstetric population. In addition, women attending the RMC were more likely to have a personal or family history of antepartum haemorrhage (heavy bleeding after 20 weeks gestation), fetal abnormalities, and intrauterine deaths than the general population.

This means that women suffering from recurrent miscarriage who subsequently become pregnant and carry the baby past 13 weeks gestation are at high risk of fetal abnormalities, stillbirth and neonatal death. Repeated pregnancy loss is not the same as sub-fertility; women with this condition should be cared for differently to minimise these risks.

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