Women Who Conceive Within 6 Months Less Likely to Miscarry Again

How soon until we can try again? This is one of the first questions that women who have experienced a miscarriage will ask their doctor. And a new study suggests that there is no reason for many women to delay getting pregnant after a miscarriage. According to a new study, the sooner a woman conceives again, the better her chances of having a healthy pregnancy.

Specifically, women who conceive within six months after a miscarriage are less likely to miscarry again or experience other pregnancy-related complications when compared with women who wait for longer periods of time. The findings appear in the journal BMJ.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Many men suffer emotionally when their partner loses a pregnancy, new research shows. But they recover more quickly from their distress than women do, the study shows.

Not too long ago, experts thought that a man didn’t bond with his unborn child, and that miscarriages didn’t affect men. While several investigators have since reported that men also report feelings of loss, sadness, and helplessness, it’s not clear how severe their distress is, or how long it lasts.

To investigate, Dr. Grace Kong of Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong and colleagues followed 83 couples for one year after a miscarriage. They used two tests to gauge levels of psychological distress in both men and women: the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). None of the study participants had a history of mental illness.

Immediately after the miscarriage occurred, the researchers found, more than 40 percent of the men were suffering significant psychological distress, as measured by the GHQ-12. By three months, however, just 7 percent reported this level of distress, and at one year, 5 percent of the men did.

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HURSDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) — Preliminary research suggests that a new drug treatment shrinksuterine fibroids and helps women with the non-cancerous tumors retain their fertility.

Uterine fibroids, which cause abdominal pain and heavy menstrual bleeding, are a leading cause of hysterectomy. They can also contribute to miscarriage.

“Both the fibroids and the surgical interventions commonly used to treat them can cause significant fertility problems,” Dr. Alicia Armstrong, chief of gynecologic services at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Program for Reproductive and Adult Endocrinology, said in a news release.

In two new studies, researchers tested a drug called ulipristal acetate (also known as ellaOne), which blocks ovulation and is used as a form of emergency contraception. It works by adjusting the body’s reaction to thehormone progesterone.

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Researchers in The Netherlands believe they are on the verge of developing a simple, prenatal blood test that would be able to detect accurately chromosomal abnormalities in the developing foetus. At present, the only reliable way to do this is through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, both of which are invasive and carry the risk of triggering a miscarriage.

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Testing in the upper half of what is currently considered a normal range for thyroid function can nonetheless be problematic for pregnant women, who face an increased risk for miscarriage as a result, new research suggests.

The study is the first to link what has previously been considered normal thyroid function to miscarriage risk, according to co-investigator Dr. Alex Stagnaro-Green, a senior associate dean for education at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.

The newly observed risk does not involve the presence of thyroid peroxidase antibodies, something that prior research has linked to a threat for miscarriage. An underactive thyroid has also been associated with risk of miscarriage, the study authors noted in a news release from the Endocrine Society.

View the full article at Medicine Net