Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2002 Dec 7;325(7376):1334.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7376.1334.

Association between bacterial vaginosis or chlamydial infection and miscarriage before 16 weeks' gestation: prospective community based cohort study

Pippa Oakeshott  1 , Phillip Hay, Sima Hay, Frances Steinke, Elizabeth Rink, Sally Kerry
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Association between bacterial vaginosis or chlamydial infection and miscarriage before 16 weeks' gestation: prospective community based cohort study

Pippa Oakeshott et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To assess whether bacterial vaginosis or chlamydial infection before 10 weeks' gestation is associated with miscarriage before 16 weeks.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: 32 general practices and five family planning clinics in south London.

Participants: 1216 pregnant women, mean age 31, presenting before 10 weeks' gestation.

Main outcome measure: Prevalence of miscarriage before 16 weeks' gestation.

Results: 121 of 1214 women (10.0%, 95% confidence interval 8.3% to 11.7%) miscarried before 16 weeks. 174 of 1201 women (14.5%, 12.5% to 16.5%) had bacterial vaginosis. Compared with women who were negative for bacterial vaginosis those who were positive had a relative risk of miscarriage before 16 weeks' gestation of 1.2 (0.7 to 1.9). Bacterial vaginosis was, however, associated with miscarriage in the second trimester at 13-15 weeks (3.5, 1.2 to 10.3). Only 29 women (2.4%, 1.5% to 3.3%) had chlamydial infection, of whom one miscarried (0.32, 0.04 to 2.30).

Conclusion: Bacterial vaginosis is not strongly predictive of early miscarriage but may be a predictor after 13 weeks' gestation. The prevalence of Chlamydia was too low to assess the risk, but it is unlikely to be a major risk factor in pregnant women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient instructions for providing self administered vaginal swab and first pass urine
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier plot of survival of pregnancy by bacterial vaginosis status
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hay P, Lamont R, Taylor-Robinson D, Morgan D, Ison C, Pearson J. Abnormal bacterial colonisation of the genital tract and subsequent preterm delivery and late miscarriage. BMJ. 1994;308:295–298. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McGregor J, French J, Parker R, Draper D, Patterson E, Jones W, et al. Prevention of premature birth by screening and treatment for common genital tract infections: results of a prospective controlled evaluation. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1995;173:157–167. - PubMed
    1. Eschenbach DA. Chlamydia trachomatis in pregnancy. In: Bowie WR, Caldwell HD, Jones RP, Mardh P-A, Ridgway GL, Schachter J, editors. Chlamydial infections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1990. pp. 329–339.
    1. Morgan DJ, Aboud CJ, McCaffrey MB, Bhide SA, Lamont RF, Taylor-Robinson D. Comparison of Gram-stained smears prepared from blind vaginal swabs with those obtained at speculum examination for the assessment of vaginal flora. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1996;103:1105–1108. - PubMed
    1. Stephenson J, Carder C, Copas A, Robinson A, Ridgway G, Haines A. Home screening for chlamydial genital infection: is it acceptable to young men and women? Sex Transm Infect. 2000;76:25–27. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms