Outcomes in Women with First-Trimester Bleeding

Women with threatened miscarriage in their first-trimester have a slightly higher risk for obstetric and neonatal complications.

Threatened miscarriage, or first-trimester vaginal bleeding, affects up to 25% of all pregnancies and can lead to spontaneous abortion. The risk for adverse obstetric outcomes if the pregnancy continues is unknown. This retrospective U.K. cohort study, the largest of its type, investigated the pregnancy, delivery, and neonatal outcomes of first-trimester threatened miscarriage.

Researchers identified 39,260 primigravid women from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Data Bank who delivered live babies after 24 weeks' gestation between 1976 and 2004. Nearly 20% experienced vaginal bleeding before 12 weeks’ gestation. Women presenting with miscarriages, multiple gestation, pregnancies with fetal malformations or hydatidiform moles, and those op…

Reviewing Author

Sandra Ann Carson, MD