Indian women more prone to miscarriages, finds study

MUMBAI: Indian women seem more likely than other ethnicities to miscarry their first pregnancy or suffer recurrent miscarriages, said a new study published by a city doctor.

The five-city study, which was published in The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of India, said 32 per cent of the 2,400-odd participants had suffered spontaneous miscarriage. Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion without medical means to terminate a pregnancy, has so far been presumed to be 10 per cent across the globe.

However, the study's lead author Dr Ameet Patki said the main finding was that recurrent spontaneous miscarriage was as high as 7.46 per cent among Indian women. His paper said globally recurrent pregnancy losses were pegged at 0.8-1.4 per cent of all pregnancies.

"We found the main causes for these repeated miscarriages were genetic, history of infections such as tuberculosis or structural defects in the women's uterus," said Dr Patki.

Dr Rekha Daver, who heads the gynecology department of state government-run JJ Group of Hospitals, said that the study's figures seemed a bit high but highlighted an important issue. "A few decades back, women wouldn't go to the doctor until they spontaneously miscarried three to four times," said Dr Daver. But in an age of nuclear families, every pregnancy is treated as a precious one. "Pregnancies are planned these days. So, if a woman miscarries the first time, she rushes to a doctor for complete analysis," said Dr Daver.

Dr Daver said women could have anatomical problems leading to frequent miscarriages. "While these can be fixed with small medical procedures, some miscarry due to hormonal or immunological reasons and need medications," she added.

Doctors said in many cases it's difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for frequent miscarriages. Infertility specialist Dr Aniruddha Malpani said, "Spontaneous first trimester miscarriages are very common and occur because of random genetic errors in the embryo. Most women need reassurance that their risk of another miscarriage is very low." He added that they usually do not need any testing or treatment. "Over 90 per cent of them will have a healthy baby without any medical intervention," he said.

Dr Bharti Seth, a Delhi-based gynaceologist who was a part of the study, said that most Indian doctors followed western data and reasons for recurrent miscarriages. "This study tells us that infections are, for instance, a major contributor for miscarriages in India," she added.