Women whose close family members suffer from endocrine disorders may be at greater risk of miscarriage during their pregnancy, according to a large study.
- Endocrine diseases affect the glands that produce hormones, such as the pancreas, thyroid, testes, or ovaries. Characterized by abnormal hormone levels, they include obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease, high blood pressure, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), etc.
- A study found that women who had a parent or sister diagnosed with an endocrine disease had a 6% and 7% higher risk of miscarriage than those who did not. In addition, women who themselves had such a disease had a 15% increased risk.
- Miscarriages typically affect between 2 and 5 percent of women trying to conceive, and nearly half of cases remain unexplained.
A potential genetic predisposition? According to a team of Danish researchers, women who have people in their family suffering from endocrine pathologies, such as diabetes or thyroid diseases, would be more likely to suffer a spontaneous miscarriage. Their work was presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Parental endocrine diseases increase risk of miscarriage by 6%
As part of their study, published in the journal Human Reproductionscientists at Hvidovre University Hospital in Copenhagen examined the medical records of some 366,000 women in Denmark between 1973 and 2022 to look at the association between endocrine diseases and early pregnancy termination. As a reminder, endocrine diseases affect the glands that produce hormones, such as the pancreas, thyroid, pituitary gland, testes and ovaries. Characterized by abnormal hormone levels, they include obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, thyroid disease, hypertension, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), cancers, growth disorders, etc.
The researchers found that women whose parents had been diagnosed with an endocrine disease had a 6% higher risk of miscarriage than those who had no family history of the disease. The same was true for women whose sister had an endocrine disease: their risk of miscarriage increased by 7%. “This study is the first of its kind to link familial endocrine disease to early pregnancy loss, providing evidence that these familial conditions contribute to risk.”assures Dr Pia Egerup, lead author of the research, in a communicated.
Half of all miscarriages remain unexplained
“We speculate that the mechanism linking familial endocrine disease and miscarriage may be a common genetic background that predisposes individuals to both endocrine disease and early pregnancy loss. One potential mechanism may involve high-risk human leukocyte antigens (HLA), which define the immune system’s ability to distinguish good from bad. Specific HLA types are known to be associated with several endocrine and autoimmune diseases, and may also be associated with miscarriage.”
The study also found that women who themselves suffered from the condition had a 15% increased risk of having one miscarriage, a 30% increased risk of having two miscarriages, and an 81% increased risk of having three or more miscarriages. While miscarriages typically affect between 2% and 5% of women trying to conceive, and nearly half of the cases remain unexplained, the researchers estimate that “Understanding the mechanisms between miscarriage and endocrine disease could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to help prevent pregnancy loss.”