An ultrasound during pregnancy (illustration). – / Newscom / SIPA
It is a phenomenon which has “too long [été] minimized ”. One in ten women has had a miscarriage, according to a report published Tuesday in The Lancet. The prestigious medical journal asks, in its editorial, that these women be better taken care of, in particular on the psychological level. “For too long, having a miscarriage has been played down and often not taken seriously (…). It is no longer time to be satisfied with telling women “try again” “, pleads The Lancet.
The report’s authors estimate that 23 million miscarriages occur worldwide each year, or about 15% of total pregnancies. That’s about “44 pregnancies lost every minute,” according to one of the three studies that make up this report. Based on several other works published over the past 20 years, researchers estimate that 10.8% of women have miscarried. Recurrent miscarriages are much less frequent: 1.9% of women have had two and 0.7% have had three.
Silence dominates
Certain factors are associated with an increased risk: chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus, the age of the mother and, to a lesser extent, the father (especially above 40 years), a history of miscarriage, a clue very low or very high body mass, alcohol, tobacco, stress, night work or exposure to pesticides.
“Although a miscarriage most of the time only happens once, a significant portion of the population will need treatment and support. Despite this, the silence around miscarriages persists not only among the women who experience them, but also among caregivers, policy makers and research funding organizations, ”laments one of the study’s editors, Prof Siobhan Quenby of the University of Warwick.
Demand for global harmonization
“Many women complain about the lack of empathy with which they are taken care of after a miscarriage: some do not receive any explanation, and the only advice they are given is to try again”, adds Professor Quenby, Deputy Director of Tommy’s National Center for Miscarriage Research, a British charity specializing in this issue and initiator of the report.
The authors recommend that women who have had a miscarriage benefit from a minimum follow-up, including psychological support for the couple and counseling before subsequent pregnancies. This care must be reinforced for women who have had several miscarriages. In addition, they consider it necessary to harmonize this monitoring at the global level.