Serious new complication of spontaneous abortion discovered
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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A miscarriage in the future increases the risk of premature death of a woman from cardiovascular disorders. This conclusion was made by American scientists representing Harvard University. They published details of their work in the scientific publication BMJ.
Spontaneous abortion is the outcome of approximately 20% of all pregnancies. Previously, scientists have already conducted studies, during which they discovered the existence of a relationship between a history of miscarriage and the long-term development of hypertension, pathologies of the cardiovascular system, type II diabetes mellitus . This time, the researchers faced another adverse consequence, namely the risk of premature death. Scientists have learned about such a side effect for the first time.
This result was obtained in a large-scale observational experiment in the Nursing Health Study. This is a series of promising studies that examined the epidemiology and long-term effects of nutrition, hormonal balance, ecology and the characteristics of the medical profession in terms of health and development of pathologies.
Specialists studied information about more than one hundred thousand women of childbearing age (from 25 to 42 years old). The study was conducted over 24 years - from 1993 to 2017. Throughout this period, the participants in the experiment filled out a special questionnaire series, in which they indicated changes in the way of life and health, described the pregnancies that had occurred and their outcomes.
As a result, it was found that more than a quarter of the observed participants survived a pregnancy, which ended in spontaneous abortion. In total, over the entire observation period, almost 3 thousand cases of premature deaths were recorded: 1346 women died from malignant pathologies and 269 women died from diseases of the cardiovascular system. At the same time, the mortality rate prevailed among the participants who had three or more miscarriages, as well as among those who experienced spontaneous abortion before the age of 24.
Scientists analyzed all the most likely factors and found that the participants who had a spontaneous miscarriage had a higher risk of premature death, in contrast to women without childbearing interruptions in the medical record. The risks of early death from pathologies of the cardiovascular system were more than 48%. This indicator was more pronounced for women with recurrent miscarriages , as well as for cases of spontaneous abortion at a young age.
According to scientists, miscarriages can be perceived as early markers of risk of premature death. Next, the researchers have to find out whether spontaneous abortion can be the result of existing prerequisites, or it activates a mechanism involved in shortening the life span.
Primary Source of Information: BMJ Magazine