Psychiatric morbidity among patients with recurrent miscarriage

Abstract

In this study 81 women with recurrent miscarriages completed questionnaires designed to assess depression, anxiety and general health. This data was matched with data from their medical notes to ascertain demographic and reproductive variables. The results indicated that 33% of patients could be classified as depressed with 9.9% of women being moderately depressed and 7.4% suffering from severe depression. Twenty-one percent of patients had levels of anxiety that were equal or higher to a typical psychiatric outpatient population. Neither age, cigarette consumption, alcohol intake, previous live birth, number of miscarriages, lateness of miscarriage nor length of time since last miscarriage were found to affect the degree of psychiatric morbidity. These findings add to our understanding of the degree to which recurrent miscarriage can affect mental health.