Repeat Miscarriage Risk

Question

I was pregnant before and had a miscarriage, which was devastating. What are the chances of it happening again?

Answer

Enduring the loss of a pregnancy can be one of the hardest things you will ever go through. Even if the loss is early in pregnancy, it still is very difficult. About 12 to 15 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. If you're over age 40, the miscarriage rate increases to 25 percent. In fact, usually we do not consider miscarriage a medical problem until the woman experiences three first-trimester losses or two second-trimester losses.

The good news is, having one miscarriage does not put you at higher risk for further miscarriages. If there was no identifiable medical problem with your pregnancy -- say, brittle diabetes -- the chances are again approximately 85 percent that you will carry your baby to term. In fact, even among women who have experienced three losses in a row, almost three-quarters of patients will go on to have a normal pregnancy.

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