Repeated miscarriages and hormone treatment for infertility give an increased risk of pre-eclampsia among pregnant women. This comes from a new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. More than 20 000 first-time mothers from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) were included in the study.
Normal risk
Risk after miscarriage
Risk after infertility treatment
The study has been recently published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , BJOG .
Placenta important for normal development
The causes of pre-eclampsia are unknown, but involve the placenta. The placenta is important for normal development of the pregnancy. Failure in the development and function of the placenta seems to be an important mechanism in the development of pre-eclampsia but no-one knows why. The results from this study show that the protective effect seen after earlier normal pregnancies (births or terminations) is not present among women with repeated miscarriages. The study indicates that common causal factors linked to the placenta's development and function may be present in infertility, repeated miscarriages and pre-eclampsia.
Facts about pre-eclampsia
Reference
L Trogstad, P Magnus, A Moffett, C Stoltenberg (2008) The effect of recurrent miscarriage and infertility on the risk of pre-eclampsia. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , 116 (1) : 108 - 113.
British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology