Towards a blood test to better understand and prevent miscarriages.

One in ten women will have a miscarriage during her lifetime. Recently, a Danish scientific group based in Copenhagen, led by gynecologist Henriette Svare Nielsen, tried to understand its origin. The results of their work were published on March 4, 2023 in the scientific journal The Lancet , shows that the blood analysis performed on the patient after the fifth week of pregnancy and immediately after the miscarriage gives an opportunity to better know the genetic characteristics of the fetus. More specifically, to find out whether the latter had a chromosomal abnormality or not.

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A new and promising experience

To reach these conclusions, the researchers asked women who came to the emergency room of Hvidovre municipality for a miscarriage to take a blood sample. More than 75% accepted, reports TheAFP:. In practice, after this blood test, the DNA of the embryo or fetus is analyzed to determine whether it carries a serious chromosomal abnormality and is therefore non-viable. After the research, it was found that the answer was positive in 50-60 percent of cases.

The experiment in Denmark is unprecedented, as this test is usually recommended after three consecutive miscarriages and only if the latter occurred after the tenth week of pregnancy. Thus, this new work shows how important it is to study these cases upstream to exclude not only a chromosomal abnormality, but also to better understand and prevent other risks that can lead to early termination of pregnancy; hormonal imbalance, endocrine diseases, coagulation problems. or lifestyle.

Prevent 5% of the 30 million miscarriages a year

“Miscarriage is very common, accounting for 25% of all pregnancies. Even if they are frequent, for many, many years we have been content to empty the uterus after pregnancy loss, not caring about the mechanisms that cause it or the effects on the mental health of couples. Dr. Henriette Sware is sorry. Nielsen:

With his research project, which started in 2020 and is called COPL, the gynecologist and academic hopes to create a unique and reliable database in the next few years to “correctly answer miscarriages, reproduction, as well as women’s health in general. According to the health specialist, in the long term, the results of this study, which is still in progress, could prevent 5% of the 30 million miscarriages in the world every year.

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