Recent research examining the quality-of-life impact of repeated miscarriage, led by the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, has contributed to a report by pregnancy and baby charity Tommy’s. The report, Graded Model of Miscarriage Care, sets out a framework for providing proactive support after miscarriage and draws on the study’s findings to highlight the longer-term quality-of-life impact of miscarriage and the importance of earlier intervention for women who have experienced two or more losses.
The study, recently published in Value in Health and led by researchers from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences with collaborators at the University of Birmingham, found that women who experience repeated miscarriages face a substantially greater decline in quality of life in the months after pregnancy loss.
The longitudinal study followed women for 12 months after miscarriage to examine how health-related quality of life changes over time, and whether recovery differs depending on previous miscarriage history.
The study found that women who experienced three or more miscarriages reported noticeably worse quality of life 3-6 months later, compared to women who had experienced one miscarriage. On the EQ-5D-5L – a standard measure of health-related quality of life covering mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety or depression – their scores were lower by 0.12 points, with worse outcomes in more areas measured by the survey.
A second miscarriage seemed to be a key turning point in mental wellbeing: compared to women who had experienced one miscarriage, about 30 out of every 100 women who had experienced a second miscarriage reported anxiety or depression 3-6 months later.
Researchers also found that women who had experienced three or more miscarriages reported significantly worse quality of life in the three to six months after pregnancy loss than women who had experienced one miscarriage.
Lead author Dr Corneliu Bolbocean, Senior Researcher in Health Economics at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said:
“Our findings show that the burden of miscarriage compounds with successive losses. The second miscarriage appears to be a critical turning point for mental health, while recurrent miscarriage affects multiple areas of daily functioning and wellbeing.”
The study helped fill important gaps in previous research by following women over time after miscarriage, instead of relying on people looking back on past experiences or answering questions at just one point in time. Researchers followed 203 women treated at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, collecting quality-of-life data at baseline and again at three, six and 12 months after miscarriage.
Dr Bolbocean went on to explain:
“Miscarriage is often treated as a short-term event, but this study demonstrates that its effects can persist for many months, particularly for women experiencing repeated losses. These findings reinforce the need for earlier and more personalised support after miscarriage.”
The research supports calls for stratified miscarriage care pathways that provide tailored clinical and psychological support earlier, a message reinforced by Tommy’s Graded Model of Miscarriage Care report. The findings also come amid growing policy attention on improving post-miscarriage care and support, with the government’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy highlighting the need for more responsive, personalised care that better reflects women’s experiences following pregnancy loss.