How common are miscarriages?

Question

Like 1/10 type statistics. I've just heard about a lot of them recently, and I was just wondering if it was coincidental.

Answer 1

Losing a pregnancy can be heartbreaking. And for some expectant couples, the fear of having a miscarriage can be consuming, even edging out the excitement about being pregnant.

Unfortunately, miscarriages are fairly common. On average, 1 in 5 pregnancies will end in a miscarriage — most of which occur in the first trimester.

In most cases, a miscarriage cannot be prevented because it is the result of a chromosomal change or problem with the fetus that occurs during conception or during early fetal development. That said, certain factors — such as age, smoking, drinking, and a history of miscarriage — put a woman at a higher risk for losing a pregnancy.

Answer 2

I believe the best way to answer is to say normal women have about a 25% chance of conceiving during ovulation and of those pregnancies that result about 25% of them stick, the rest generally end in spontaneous abortion or in lay man's terms miscarriage.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the natural or spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the prenate is incapable of surviving, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation. Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy.[1] The medical term "spontaneous abortion" is used in reference to miscarriages because the medical term "abortion" refers to any terminated pregnancy, deliberately induced or spontaneous, although in common parlance it refers specifically to active termination of pregnancy.

Prevalence

Determining the prevalence of miscarriage is difficult. Many miscarriages happen very early in the pregnancy, before a woman may know she is pregnant. Treatment of women with miscarriage at home means medical statistics on miscarriage miss many cases.[26] Prospective studies using very sensitive early pregnancy tests have found that 25% of pregnancies are miscarried by the sixth week LMP (since the woman's Last Menstrual Period).[27][28] Clinical miscarriages (those occurring after the sixth week LMP) occur in 8% of pregnancies.[28]

The risk of miscarriage decreases sharply after the 10th week LMP, i.e. when the fetal stage begins.[29] The loss rate between 8.5 weeks LMP and birth is about two percent; loss is “virtually complete by the end of the embryonic period."[30]

The prevalence of miscarriage increases considerably with age of the parents. One study found that pregnancies from men younger than twenty-five years are 40% less likely to end in miscarriage than pregnancies from men 25-29 years. The same study found that pregnancies from men older than forty years are 60% more likely to end in miscarriage than the 25-29 year age group.[31] Another study found that the increased risk of miscarriage in pregnancies from older men is mainly seen in the first trimester.[32] Yet another study found an increased risk in women, by the age of forty-five, on the order of 800% (compared to the 20-24 age group in that study), 75% of pregnancies ended in miscarriage.[33]

Detection

The most common symptom of a miscarriage is bleeding;[34] bleeding during pregnancy may be referred to as a threatened abortion. Of women who seek clinical treatment for bleeding during pregnancy, about half will go on to have a miscarriage.[26] Symptoms other than bleeding are not statistically related to miscarriage.[34]

Miscarriage may also be detected during an ultrasound exam, or through serial human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) testing. Women pregnant from ART methods, and women with a history of miscarriage, may be monitored closely and so detect a miscarriage sooner than women without such monitoring.

Several medical options exist for managing documented nonviable pregnancies that have not been expelled naturally.

Miscarriages are very common, but most of them happen in the first trimester so some women may not even know that they have had one...

Ever had a really strange period? That may have been a miscarriage if you have had unprotected s*x...

Remember... A Miscarriage is nature's way of saying that something was REALLY wrong with the baby... It is better to miscarry a deformed and disabled baby then carry it to term and have to go through the loss of losing a child you had a chance to hold in your arms.

Answer 4

Supposedly 50% (1/2) of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.  Most of these occur before a woman knows that she is pregnant.

Once you know you are pregnant, I believe the stats are like 3/10 pregnancies end in miscarriage.  It's crazy how common it is and yet isn't talked about that much.  

I had a miscarriage earlier this year and since have found out that my sister-in-law (hubby's side), cousin (hubby's side), my mom, my grandma, and many friends and family friends have also had miscarriages.  

Answer 5

Every year, roughly 576,000 babies die between 14 weeks gestation and one month of life. There are more deaths due to miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal loss than there are to cancer or heart attacks. And that is not even including the one in four who miscarry in the first trimester of pregnancy

Answer 6

Quite common I think.

Answer 7

1 out of 3 pregnancys end this way.

Answer 8

Last I heard it was 1 in 5. They are very common but mostly during the first 12 weeks. Unfortunately it's just one of those things, most of the time nobody knows why and there's nothing you can do about it.