Credit: GettyA SIMPLE change to NHS miscarriage guidance could prevent up to 10,000 baby losses each year, a UK study suggests.
Routinely offering women further tests after their first could mean thousands more families get to welcome a baby and spare parents the trauma of losing another child.
Offering tests earlier after a miscarriage could help prevent up to 10,000 losses Credit: Getty
There are about 250,000 miscarriages in the UK each year Credit: Getty
Currently, the only runs tests on mums after they’ve suffered three miscarriages.
Scaling up testing is effective and can be achieved “without significant additional workload for NHS teams”, according to pregnancy and baby Tommy’s.
Current guidelines leave families “unsupported” and their “grief unrecognised”, the charity said in a new report.
The pilot study by researchers at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research and Women’s Hospital put a so-called graded model of miscarriage care to the test.
It meant the NHS intervened at an earlier stage, with women offered a one-to-one consultation with a specialist nurse after losing a baby for the first time to discuss their before conception and during their pregnancy.
Some women who experienced vaginal bleeding early in their pregnancy were offered prescriptions of the hormone progesterone.
After two miscarriages, patients were offered tests for anaemia and abnormal thyroid function.
If they went on to have a third, women were offered the current standard NHS care.
Professor Arri Coomarasamy, director of Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, said: “If the graded model were implemented across the UK, our study indicates it could prevent around 10,075 miscarriages every year.
“That’s more than 10,000 families bringing their babies home instead of suffering the trauma of a pregnancy loss.”
The trial included 203 women with a history of one or more miscarriages who were given early intervention, along with 203 who had the usual care.
The graded model of care helped spot issues that could lead to more miscarriages in 86 per cent of women.
Meanwhile, issues were detected in 58 per cent the group who had standard care.
According to the study, women treated using the graded model had a 4 per cent lower risk of a pregnancy ending in another loss.
When it could be a miscarriage
A miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy during the first 23 weeks.
It happens more than you might think. According to the NHS, around one in eight known pregnancies ends in a loss.
Figures from the charity Tommy’s show half of adults in the UK say that they, or someone they know, has experienced pregnancy or baby loss.
Symptoms can include vaginal bleeding and cramping and pain in your lower tummy, but some women don’t have any symptoms at all and will only find out they’ve had a miscarriage during a routine pregnancy scan.
The majority cannot be prevented and a cause is usually not known. But there are some things you can do to reduce the risk.
These include avoiding smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs while pregnant, being a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, and reducing your chances of infection.
If doctors suspect you have had a miscarriage, you will usually be referred to a hospital for an ultrasound. If confirmed, there are several options.
Often the pregnancy tissue will pass out naturally in one to two weeks, but sometimes medicine or surgery is needed.
There are also several potential risks, including bleeding, perforation and sepsis.
The process can be emotionally and physically draining, but there is support available.
You can contact The Miscarriage Association , Tommy’s and Sands for more information. The NHS also offers counselling services.
The measures could also save the NHS more than £40 million after one year, the report suggested.
Among women who had two losses, one in five were found to have either thyroid problems or anaemia – picked up in blood tests they would usually only be offered at a later stage.
Kath Abrahams, chief executive of Tommy’s, said: “NHS care and support for women who experience a miscarriage in the UK is inconsistent and generally involves no follow-up or tests until after a third loss.
“The three-miscarriage wait means women and families are left without early access to services that could help prevent future losses and reduce the debilitating feelings of isolation and hopelessness that we know affect so many who experience pregnancy loss.
“Our pilot study indicates that providing support after a first miscarriage, with escalating care after further losses, is not only effective but achievable without significant additional workload for NHS teams who are already working extremely hard to deliver good care.
“Put simply, it is the right thing to do.”
Tommy’s estimates there are about 250,000 miscarriages in the UK each year.
Kath said Scotland has already embedded the new model into its miscarriage care pathway and called on policymakers in , and to do the same.
She added: “We will do all we can to drive that change across the UK, so that more women and families are supported after every miscarriage.”
The Government has pledged to review miscarriage support in the new Women’s Health Strategy.
Baroness Merron, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the , welcomed the study and said its findings “will be carefully considered”.
She added: “Pregnancy and baby loss can have a devastating impact on women and families, who too often feel they have been left without the care and support they need.
“Research like this is crucial, and our renewed Women’s Health Strategy puts women’s voices and experiences at the heart of care.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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