Updated June 10, 2015.
Question: Is It True That Stress Can Cause a Miscarriage?
I'm confused about what I've read about stress during pregnancy. An article I read online claimed that it was a myth that stress could cause miscarriages, but then there was an article in my local paper about a study that found a link between stress and miscarriages.
Answer:
This is a really interesting and important question. The answer, right now at least, is that no one really knows.
It is a fact that there have been several studies that have found evidence linking stress to miscarriage and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Most of the studies center around biological markers of high stress, such as elevated cortisol, and many have found a statistical correlation with stress markers and miscarriage.
On the other hand, it is too early to conclude that stress definitely causes miscarriages. There are other possible explanations for the findings, and it remains indisputably true that nearly every pregnant woman out there feels some level of stress during her pregnancy. Many may even have high levels of stress, especially with unplanned pregnancies, and yet the majority don't miscarry. Thus, any link that exists between stress and miscarriages is likely not so simple as just saying that "stress causes miscarriages." It may be that stress has an interplay with some other factor that increases miscarriage risk for some women, or some people might be more genetically vulnerable to experiencing miscarriage after high stress.
(Both of these reasons are pure speculation and there may be some other reason that explains the findings.)
In any case, it is not possible to say definitively that stress causes miscarriages. That also means it is not possible to say that stress doesn't cause miscarriages. We just don't know.
What does that mean in reality? Well, regardless of any potential link with miscarriage, uncontrolled stress is not good for you. It's never a bad idea to try to reduce your stress load or find effective stress management techniques. Consider a possibility of a reduced risk of miscarriage to be one of many motivations to address major sources of stress in your life, but don't overthink it. And especially don't let the possibility of a link be a reason to blame yourself for a past miscarriage if you were under stress before it happened. There's just not enough evidence to draw those kinds of conclusions, and there are too many questions about what the existing evidence really means.
Sources:
Maconochie N, Doyle P, Prior S, Simmons R. "Risk factors for first trimester miscarriage--results from a UK-population-based case-control study." BJOG 2007 Feb;114(2):170-86.
Nepomnaschy PA, Welch KB, McConnell DS, Low BS, Strassmann BI, England BG. "Cortisol levels and very early pregnancy loss in humans." PNAS 2006 Mar 7;103(10):3938-42. Epub 2006 Feb 22.
Sugiura-Ogasawara, M., T.A. Furukawa, Y. Nakano, S. Hori, K. Aoki and T. Kitamura. "Depression as a potential causal factor in subsequent miscarriage in recurrent spontaneous aborters." Human Reproduction Oct. 2002. Vol. 17, No. 10, 2580-2584.
previous post
next post