Miscarriage history linked to longer time to achieve pregnancy, the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study suggests.

Both the time it takes to get pregnant, as well as miscarrying of a pregnancy, are important indicators of fertility in women. That the risk of miscarrying is higher after a long time to conceive has been known for long from previous research; similarly, that it takes longer for a pregnancy, if a history of miscarriage is present, has also been shown in the past. But how do the two parameters of time to pregnancy and miscarriage associate within the same study population?

This question was recently addressed by the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)(1), which examined the association of a history of miscarriage and subsequent fecundability (the time taken to achieve pregnancy), as well as the risk of miscarriage following reduced fecundability, in particular, in subfertile women. The cohort did not include women undergoing assisted reproduction techniques. According to the researchers, it appears that, as the number of prior miscarriages increases, it takes longer for a subsequent pregnancy to happen. Moreover, for the first time, it was shown in the same population under study, that the lower the fecundability, the higher the risk of miscarrying in the following pregnancy.

Study findings are interesting, as the two indicators of fertility, fecundability and miscarriage may be sharing common causes and mechanisms, so early detection and management of such cases may result in better outcomes. As the longer time it takes to conceive after a history of repeated miscarriage may be due to occult pregnancy losses in that period, investigating towards that direction early enough may prevent further pregnancy losses.

As an overall association is being suggested between fecundability and miscarriage, it maybe worth considering investigating a history of miscarriage in a timely manner and propose assisted reproduction where required to avoid longer times to conceive, as well as increased risks of miscarrying.

References

1. Lise Arge: The association between miscarriage and fecundability: the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deab252

©2021, Nicholas Christoforidis, Fertility Matters
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