Miscarriages: one in ten women concerned, and still a taboo

23 million miscarriages occur each year worldwide, or about 15% of all pregnancies, according to a new report published in The Lancet. 10% of women will have two miscarriages in their lifetime, and 7% will experience three or more.

Physical and psychological consequences

The researchers identified the main risk factors for miscarriage, which are: the woman’s age (under 20 and over 35), the man’s age (over 40), body mass index (very low or very high), belonging to a black ethnicity, previous miscarriages, smoking, alcohol, stress, night work, air pollution and exposure to pesticides.

“The consequences of a miscarriage are both physical and psychological,” point out the authors of the study. This ordeal can notably increase the risk of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and suicide. Miscarriage, in particular recurrent miscarriage, can also generate obstetric complications (premature birth, fetal growth retardation, placental abruption, etc.), and longer-term health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases or venous thromboembolism. .

“The silence around miscarriages persists”

“For too long, having a miscarriage has been minimized and, often, not taken seriously. It is no longer the time to just tell women ‘Try again,'” argues The Lancet in the editorial that accompanies this report.

“Although a miscarriage most often only happens once, a significant portion of the population will need treatment and support. Despite this, the silence around miscarriage persists not only among women who experience them, but also among caregivers, policy makers and research funding organisations”, adds one of the authors of the report, Professor Siobhan Quenby (University of Warwick). “Many women complain about the lack of empathy with which they are cared for after a miscarriage: some receive no explanation and the only advice they are given is to try again”, concludes by lamenting the deputy director of Tommy’s National Center for Miscarriage Research.