Women who have had a miscarriage know the heartbreak that comes with it. Now, a study suggests that blood tests performed after a miscarriage can alleviate some of the pain by investigating the underlying cause and helping healthcare professionals provide preventative treatment to avoid similar events in the future.
The study was published in the British journal The Lancet by Danish gynecologist Henriette Svarre Nielsen and her research team. Aborted COPL in Copenhagen Launched in 2020.
AFP Recently speaking with Nielsen, the study’s lead researcher, blood samples taken from mothers as early as the fifth week of pregnancy, shortly after a miscarriage, can help determine whether the fetus has chromosomal abnormalities.
How Chromosomal Abnormalities Can Cause Miscarriages
Chromosomal abnormalities have been identified as a common culprit in 50-70% of all miscarriages worldwide. There’s no definitive answer as to why this happens, but theories suggest that the mother’s immune system can recognize any genetic problems the growing baby may have and terminate the pregnancy as a protective response.
Risk of miscarriage increasingly occurs later in women’s reproductive years, according to very healthy.
The research team specifically targeted miscarriages that occurred as early as the fifth week of pregnancy in order to obtain blood samples from patients to check them for any chromosomal abnormalities.
“It’s 2023. We’re far beyond just considering it the norm,” Svarre Nielsen of the Hvidovre Hospital, which carried out the study, told AFP.
The study involved all women who had a miscarriage and visited the emergency department of Hvidovre Hospital, with an acceptance rate of up to 75%. The researchers then went on to isolate the DNA and sequence of the fetus and analyze it for chromosomal abnormalities.
This method allows doctors to assess the severity of different abnormalities.
The method also allowed the researchers to predict future miscarriages and the likelihood of a baby being born with Down syndrome due to an extra copy of chromosome 21.
“They are also able to predict” the risk of future miscarriages, lab technician Lene Werge explained to AFP.
Miscarriage can be the result of hormonal imbalances, endocrine disorders, blood clotting problems, or lifestyle issues. If an explanation is found, doctors can determine risk and develop a treatment plan.
COPL involves a large cohort of 1,700 women and is expected to generate a unique database of diseases.
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Published by Medicaldaily.com