Test To Predict Miscarriage
Posted by Babble Editors at 4:19 PM on September 24, 2009
A test to predict a pregnant woman’s chances of miscarrying – that can be done at six weeks – has been developed by a Sydney doctor.
The Daily Telegraph says: “Associate Professor George Condous designed the test, which is about 80 per cent accurate, to reassure women their pregnancy is progressing well.
Professor Condous used data from more than 400 women who visited the early pregnancy unit at Nepean Hospital. Working with a team of Sydney University researchers, Dr Condous used information such as previous caesarean births and miscarriages combined with details from the first ultrasound scan.
He combined them in a mathematical process – comparing variables – to come up with the formula.”
Whatever happened to every woman and every pregnancy is different?
Hmmm. The Babble jury’s out on this – for some reason, it smells fishy to us.
For a start, it’s only 80% accurate – which means it’s 20% inaccurate and none of us would fancy being in that 20% who were told they would most probably be suffering a miscarriage at some time in the next few weeks – only to be told later that, um, sorry – we got it wrong.
Could you bear the grief and trauma of an incorrect conclusion from ‘a mathematical process’? That included the number of caesareans you may already have had? Imagine you were told that all was fine, your baby was developing just as it should and you could start buying bootees tomorrow – and that was wrong! Doesn’t bear thinking about, really.
As if pregnancy – particularly the first trimester – wasn’t fraught enough! So now not only do you have to contend with the worry, the mysterious aches and pains, the abject fear and the horror stories from your well-meaning friends, you might also have this test to fret about, too…
Tell us what you think about the new test. And to read the Tele’s article, click here.
Hi I’ve had five miscarriages and to be honest I would really appreciate having a test like this. Although the 80% accuracy is a worry. 12 weeks is a long time to wait on tenderhooks and if you had a positive result from the test I think it would reduce the anxiety. I have been in the position of being told a pregnancy would probably miscarry after a scan revealed a slower than normal heartbeat and while the week that followed was one of the most stressful of my life, I am glad I had that warning. Losing a baby is always going to be heartbreaking but if the anxiety of those first 12 weeks could be reduced a little, then that would be great.