Obstetric History of Recurrent Miscarriage Women in a Reference Center in Brazil

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss is classically defined as the occurrence of three or more pregnancies losses. However, it has been recently accepted that the loss of only two pregnancies defines the illness. The incidence ranges from 1 to 5%, according to the criteria used, and it generally causes great sadness to the affected couple, taking the demand for reference services.

Objective: the aim of this study was to evaluate the past obstetric history of patients attended at the outpatient clinic of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil, during 2015.

Methods: all non pregnant women attended in the outpatient Recurrent Pregnancy Loss clinic with a history of at least two pregnancies losses were included. The following variables were analyzed: age, number of pregnancies, number of births, number of abortions and number of living children.

Results: 97 patients were seen during the study period. Mean age was 33.9 years (range 20 – 45 years). The number of pregnancies ranged from 2 to 9, with a mean of 3.6 pregnancies and the number of abortions ranged from 2 to 7, with average losses of 3.1. Thirty-four (35%) patients had births, but only 14 (14.4%) had one or more alive child. The average number of living children per woman was only 0.18. In the addition to the miscarriages, five women also had an ectopic pregnancy and one patient had a molar pregnancy.

Conclusion: the couples affected by pregnancy loss have bad obstetrical history and generally search reference services with a lot of complications and an important psychological trauma. The investigations of the etiology and the treatment of recurrent miscarriage are important in order to offer a solid option of reproductive planning to these women.