Miscarriage is far more common than most people realise, and rarely anyone's fault
Among women who know they are pregnant, roughly one pregnancy in ten to one in five ends in miscarriage; counting every fertilised egg, the share may reach a third to a half. In about half of cases the cause is a chromosome error in the embryo itself, not anything the parents did.
Miscarriage means a pregnancy ending on its own before the embryo or fetus could survive outside the womb; later losses are classed as stillbirths, with the cut-off ranging from 16 weeks in Norway to 26 in Italy and Spain. It is the most frequent complication of early pregnancy. About 80 percent happen in the first 12 weeks, and many occur before a pregnancy has even been noticed.
Genetics explains a large share. Over half of embryos lost in the first 13 weeks carry chromosomal abnormalities, most often an extra copy of one chromosome. Such errors grow more likely as parents age, which helps explain why risk climbs steeply with maternal age and, less sharply, with paternal age: for men over 45 it is about 43 percent higher than for men under 40. Losses in the second trimester are less often genetic and more often tied to the uterus or cervix. Researchers have linked up to 70 conditions and exposures to raised risk, including smoking, poorly controlled diabetes, thyroid disorders and some food-borne infections, though a risk factor does not mean a cause.
Most miscarriages complete without intervention, sometimes with medication or a minor procedure. Sadness, anxiety and guilt are common afterwards, and emotional support can help people process the loss.
Language has shifted in response. The medical term was once spontaneous abortion, which patients often found hurtful and which laypeople confused with deliberate termination. Britain moved towards miscarriage, a change being recommended in the late 1990s, and in 2005 Europe's fertility specialists at ESHRE put forward a revised vocabulary. Phrases such as habitual aborter or cervical incompetence are now discouraged, and clinicians are expected to follow the patient's own words, which usually describe losing a baby.
Source: Miscarriage
