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What You Need To Know About Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
Recurrent pregnancy loss can be devastating for couples trying to start their families. Here is what you need to know about the causes and treatment.
Nearly 10–25% of pregnancies may end with a miscarriage. In addition to the grief from such a loss, many women and their partners wonder if they will still be able to have a successful pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby afterward. They also wonder what went wrong and if anything they did contributed to their loss. The same is true for those who experience multiple miscarriages, also known as recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).
While miscarriages are fairly common, recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is not. Women are considered to have a recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) when they have 2 or more spontaneous clinical pregnancy losses (miscarriages) before the pregnancies reach 20 weeks of gestational age. In some jurisdictions, miscarriages are defined as occurring up until 22 weeks of gestational age. A doctor determines whether this has occurred using pregnancy tests and ultrasound.
Estimates suggest approximately 2–5% of women will experience two consecutive miscarriages, and 1% will experience three or more. While the occurrence is low, it is devastating when it happens. The encouraging news is that for those…
