Embryo loss pattern is predominant in miscarriages with normal chromosome karyotype among women with repeated miscarriage.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess pregnancy loss patterns in women with repeated miscarriage (RM), according to fetal chromosome karyotypes and aetiologies of RM.


METHODS
In this cohort study, 168 fetal chromosome karyotypes of miscarriages were investigated. The pregnancy loss patterns were compared between 75 miscarriages from RM women who had a history of two or more consecutive miscarriages and 93 miscarriages from control women whose previous pregnancies ended in live births without a history of RM. By serial ultrasonography, embryo loss (EL) was defined as miscarriage before fetal heat movement was identified and fetal loss (FL) as miscarriage after fetal heat movement was identified. The EL rate was calculated as EL/(EL+FL).


RESULTS
The EL rate (66.7%) in miscarriages with normal karyotypes among RM women (n=42) was higher (P<0.05) than that (45.7%) in controls (n=46), while the EL rate (30.3%) in miscarriages with abnormal karyotypes among RM women (n=33) did not differ from that (25.5%) in the controls (n=47). The EL rate (71.4%) in miscarriages with normal karyotypes among unexplained RM women (n=21) was much higher (P<0.05) than that in the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
By evaluating fetal karyotypes, we demonstrated for the first time that EL was predominant in miscarriages with normal karyotype among RM women.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-ku N15 W7, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
Mamoru
M
Morikawa
Hideto
H
Yamada
Emi H
EH
Kato
Shigeki
S
Shimada
Takashi
T
Yamada
Hisanori
H
Minakami
D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D015331:Cohort Studies; D020964:Embryo Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values; D017584:Reproductive History