Causes of Miscarriages

The risk of miscarriage can increase significantly due to mental stress during pregnancy. What many have always suspected, according to a recent study by the City University of London.
Miscarriage risk increased by stress?
Study sees a connection between miscarriage and stress

Psychological stress in early pregnancy can increase the miscarriage risk by as much as 42 percent, according to the study conducted by Dr. med. Brenda Todd, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the City, University of London. Not only gene defects are responsible for the fact that pregnancies end abruptly at an early stage.

"While chromosomal anomalies underlie many cases of early pregnancy loss, the results of this meta-analysis support the belief that high levels of mental stress before and during pregnancy are also associated with a miscarriage," Todd said.

Study confirms lay opinion about miscarriage due to stress
Miscarriages up to the 24th week of pregnancy are not uncommon. They occur according to the information in at least twelve percent of pregnancies. Experts believe that they are even more common because they are sometimes not recognized at a very early stage of pregnancy. However, the causes of miscarriages are divided by laypersons and experts. While among lay people the belief is widespread that miscarriages can also be stress-related, strict scientists have so far usually only apply the explanation that they go back to genetic defects. Because the scientific study results on the connection between abortion and stress are so far contradictory.
The London study, now published in the journal Scientific Reports, has subjected eight studies on miscarriage in women with and without psychological stress to a systematic meta-analysis. The results were summarized and weighted and rated according to study size. They show that in women with mental stress the risk of miscarriage was significantly higher.


Previous miscarriage: Risk of renewed pregnancy loss increases
The authors of the study have identified various mental stress factors as stress factors: Pregnant women suffering from emotional traumas in the past, current social problems, financial worries and noise with their spouse had more frequent miscarriages. Working pressure, major changes in everyday life and a previous loss of pregnancy also increased the risk. "These results show that these psychological factors can increase risk by about 42 percent," said the London-based researcher.

The authors explain the connection between psychostress and miscarriage by means of biochemical processes. They believe that the activation and release of multiple stress hormones could affect some of the biochemical processes that are essential to maintaining pregnancy.