Australian women who have an increased risk of miscarriage will now be able to access a hormone therapy that can reduce the risk of losing a pregnancy
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has just registered progesterone therapy Utrogestan, which can be used to help prevent miscarriage in the first trimester in women who experience bleeding during pregnancy and those who have already experienced three or more miscarriages
Sydney University Clinical Lecturer and Manly Beach Babies Obstetrician and Gynecologist Dr Andrew Pickering said while bleeding was not always a problem during pregnancy, unexplained bleeding in early pregnancy indicated an increased risk of early miscarriage
He said around a third of patients who experienced unexplained early bleeding during their pregnancy went on to miscarry. Dr Pickering said there was an increased risk of miscarriage in patients who had previously lost a pregnancy
“Once a woman has suffered two or three pregnancy losses, her risk of a future miscarriage is more than doubled,” he said. Dr Pickering said women at risk of miscarriage could now do more than just hope for a positive outcome. He said progesterone helped to prepare the lining of the womb and to assist the body in supporting a growing fetus. “There’s evidence that it will improve (women’s) chances of having a baby,” he said
Research has shown using progesterone significantly increases the chance of a live birth for women with early pregnancy bleeding who have had three or more miscarriages, such as a 2019 study in the New England Journal of Medicine
It found that 72 per cent of women who were at high risk of miscarriages and experienced early pregnancy bleeding and took progesterone carried their baby to full time. Meanwhile, only 57 per cent of the women who were at high risk of miscarriages and experienced early pregnancy bleeding and did not take progesterone completed their pregnancies
Treatment with Utrogestan should commence at the first sign of bleeding during the first trimester and continue until the end of the 16th week of gestation. The treatment is available by private prescription, and should be taken daily, costing about $9 a day