Giving progesterone to \nwomen with early pregnancy bleeding and a history of miscarriage could \nlead to 8,450 more babies being born each year, finds new research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two\n new studies evidence both the scientific and economic advantages of \ngiving a course of self-administered twice daily progesterone pessaries \nto women from when they first present with early pregnancy bleeding up \nuntil 16 weeks of pregnancy to prevent miscarriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Progesterone \nis a hormone that is naturally secreted by the ovaries and placenta in \nearly pregnancy and is vital to the attainment and maintenance of \nhealthy pregnancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first of the new studies, published in \nthe American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, examines the findings\n of two major clinical trials \u2013 PROMISE and PRISM – led by the \nUniversity of Birmingham and Tommy\u2019s National Centre for Miscarriage \nResearch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROMISE studied 836 women with unexplained recurrent \nmiscarriages at 45 hospitals in the UK and the Netherlands, and found a \n3% higher live birth rate with progesterone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PRISM studied 4,153 \nwomen with early pregnancy bleeding at 48 hospitals in the UK and found \nthere was a 5% increase in the number of babies born to those who were \ngiven progesterone who had previously had one or more miscarriages, \ncompared to those given a placebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The benefit was even greater \nfor the women who had previous \u2018recurrent miscarriages\u2019 (i.e., three or \nmore miscarriages) \u2013 with a 15% increase in the live birth rate in the \nprogesterone group compared to the placebo group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second of \nthe new studies, published in BJOG: an international Journal of \nObstetrics & Gynaecology, evaluates the economics of the PRISM trial\n and concludes tha<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Adam Devall, Senior Clinical Trial Fellow at\n the University of Birmingham and Manager of Tommy\u2019s National Centre for\n Miscarriage Research, said: \u201cBetween 20 and 25 % of pregnancies end in a\n miscarriage, which has a major clinical and psychological impact on \nwomen and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe role of first trimester \nprogesterone supplementation in the treatment of pregnancies at high \nrisk of miscarriage is a long standing research question that has been \ndebated in the medical literature for over 60 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThus far, \npolicy makers have been unable to make evidence-based recommendations on\n the use of progesterone supplementation to improve outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe PRISM and PROMISE Trials found a small but positive treatment effect, dependent on the number of previous miscarriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\n believe that the dual risk factors of early pregnancy bleeding and a \nhistory of one or more previous miscarriages identify high risk women in\n whom progesterone is of benefit. The question is, how should this \naffect clinical practice?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Giving progesterone to women with early pregnancy bleeding and a history of miscarriage could lead to 8,450 more babies being born each year, finds new research. Two new studies evidence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n