Study: Attempt conception soon after miscarriage

Women who conceive again within 6 months of a miscarriage have better odds of a successful second pregnancy than women who wait longer, according to a retrospective, population-based study from the United Kingdom of almost 31,000 women. Women who became pregnant again within 6 months were less likely to have another miscarriage (adjusted OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.57-0.77), to terminate the pregnancy (adjusted OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33-0.57), or to have an ectopic pregnancy (adjusted OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.34-0.69) than those who waited 6 to 12 months. Those who waited more than 24 months were more than twice as likely to have a pregnancy termination (adjusted OR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.91-3.01) or an ectopic pregnancy (adjusted OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.42-2.72). Women who conceived again within 6 months and had a live birth were also less likely to have a cesarean delivery (adjusted OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83-0.98), preterm delivery (adjusted OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.81-0.98), or a low birth weight infant (adjusted OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.71-0.89) than those women who waited longer to attempt conception.

Love ER, Bhattachaya S, Smith NC, Bhattachaya S. Effect of interpregnancy interval on outcomes of pregnancy after miscarriage: retrospective analysis of hospital episode statistics in Scotland. BMJ. 2010;341:c3967.