Bleeding following pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation is common, but little has been reported about the associated bleeding. We compared women’s bleeding following a pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation with their typical menstruation. METHODS: Women provided daily urine samples while trying to b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human reproduction (Oxford) 2007-03, Vol.22 (3), p.853-857
Main Authors: Promislow, J.H.E., Baird, D.D., Wilcox, A.J., Weinberg, C.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion, Spontaneous - blood
Biological and medical sciences
bleed length
Chorionic Gonadotropin - blood
Cohort Studies
Female
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Humans
Medical sciences
menses
Menstruation
Menstruation Disturbances - etiology
Pregnancy
pregnancy loss
Pregnancy Trimester, First
spontaneous abortion
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: Pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation is common, but little has been reported about the associated bleeding. We compared women’s bleeding following a pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation with their typical menstruation. METHODS: Women provided daily urine samples while trying to become pregnant and recorded the number of pads and tampons used each day. Thirty-six women had complete bleed data for a loss before 6 weeks’ gestation and one or more non-pregnant cycles. RESULTS: Mean bleed length following a pregnancy loss was 0.4 days longer than the woman’s average menstrual bleed (P = 0.01), primarily because of more days of light bleeding. Although there was no overall increase in the total number of pads plus tampons used, women with losses bled less than their typical menses following pregnancies of very short duration and more than usual for the pregnancies lasting the longest. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the bleeding associated with pregnancy loss before 6 weeks’ gestation is similar to menstrual bleeding and unlikely to be recognized as pregnancy loss. The intriguing finding that pregnancies of very short duration were associated with less bleeding than the woman’s typical menses might reflect endometrial factors associated with loss.
ISSN:0268-1161
1460-2350
DOI:10.1093/humrep/del417