Test Predicts Risk Of Miscarriage

Any woman who has ever been pregnant knows what it’s like to stress over the risk of miscarriage. It’s the whole not knowing aspect that freaks people out, not to mention the fact that some things are just completely out of our control (welcome to parenthood!).

But now scientists are recommending a simple urine test that they say will result in fewer miscarriages. Researchers at St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester found they could predict the outcome of more than nine out of 10 problematic pregnancies by measuring the amount of bleeding a pregnant woman has, as well as her levels of hCG (a pregnancy hormone).

“This research has, for the first time, offered us a robust tool to begin to attempt to rescue pregnancies threatening to miscarry when, currently, all we can do is fold our hands and hope for the best,” lead researcher Dr. Kaltum Adam told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Stockholm.

Adam and her team monitored 112 women at risk for miscarriage who were between six and 10 weeks pregnant. They found that combining two of the factors the amount of bleeding and hCG levels led to the Pregnancy Viability Index (PVI), a useful model for predicting who would miscarry.

“What we’ve tried to do here is try to combine a few available biomarkers that most people are aware of and see that by combining them we are able to predict the outcome of pregnancy,” Adam told AFP. In the sample studied, PVI was able to accurately determine the outcome of pregnancy in 94 percent of women who gave birth and predict miscarriages in 77 percent of the cases.

(Photo: Stockbyte)

 

Similar Posts