Study Shows Stress May Be Cause of Early Miscarriage
Most miscarriages occur during the first few weeks of pregnancy. Sometimes women aren’t even aware they were pregnant.
They may think they were having an unusually heavy menstrual period. The cause of miscarriage is often due to health problems with the mother or defects in the developing fetus.
In a small study of 61 married women aged 18-32 in rural Guatemala, researchers measured cortisol levels in the women’s urine three times a week.
Measurements of this hormone produced by stress began before the women got pregnant and continued for three weeks post pregnancy. Over a year, 16 of these women had 22 pregnancies, in which 9 of them resulted in live births and 13 resulted in miscarriages.
This study found that miscarriages were 2.7 times more likely among women with high cortisol levels. Ninety percent of the women with high cortisol experienced miscarriages in the first three weeks of their pregnancy. Only 33 percent of women with normal stress levels miscarried in the first three weeks.
Researchers are calling for bigger studies to determine whether maternal stress contributes to miscarriage. Cortisol in the urine could indicate that a woman’s body isn’t in the best condition to carry a child to term.
Source:Â WebMD. Inc.;Â (original article by Miranda Hitti and reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.); 2/21/06; Dr. Dean Edell, San Francisco-KGO weekday broadcasts.
Measurements of this hormone produced by stress began before the women got pregnant and continued for three weeks post pregnancy. Over a year, 16 of these women had 22 pregnancies, in which 9 of them resulted in live births and 13 resulted in miscarriages.
This study found that miscarriages were 2.7 times more likely among women with high cortisol levels. Ninety percent of the women with high cortisol experienced miscarriages in the first three weeks of their pregnancy. Only 33 percent of women with normal stress levels miscarried in the first three weeks.
Researchers are calling for bigger studies to determine whether maternal stress contributes to miscarriage. Cortisol in the urine could indicate that a woman’s body isn’t in the best condition to carry a child to term.
Source:Â WebMD. Inc.;Â (original article by Miranda Hitti and reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.); 2/21/06; Dr. Dean Edell, San Francisco-KGO weekday broadcasts.
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