Study: 75% wrongly think that stress causes miscarriages
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NAGOYA–Seventy-five percent of the general public mistakenly believe that miscarriages are caused by long-term stress among expectant mothers, a survey conducted by a Nagoya City University team showed.
In addition, nearly half of respondents wrongly believe that heavy lifting can lead to miscarriages, according the survey, which allowed for multiple choices on the perceived causes.
The survey was carried out to disseminate correct information about miscarriages and to prevent women from blaming themselves for the unhappy events.
“If correct recognition of miscarriages is spread, women who experienced it will probably stop reproaching themselves, leading to a decrease in the number of those who suffer from depression or anxiety disorder,” said Mayumi Sugiura, a professor at the university’s Graduate School of Medical Sciences Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who headed the study.
Miscarriages are mainly caused by genetic factors in the fetus, such as problems with chromosomes. Fetuses sometimes have a higher number of chromosomes than usual, which is not inherited from parents, and this condition accounts for more than 80 percent of all miscarriages, according to the study.
Sixty-two percent of respondents ticked this option among the 12 choices presented on the questionnaire sheet.
The questionnaires were sent in 2018 to 5,000 men and women in Aichi Prefecture between the ages of 18 and 69. The university team received 1,219 valid responses by mail, or 24 percent of those contacted.
The survey also asked respondents what they thought was the probability rate for a miscarriage.
More than 60 percent underestimated the rate.
“The probability of miscarriage is high, at 15 percent,” Sugiura said. “This is not caused by stress during pregnancy.”
Five options between 2 percent and 20 percent were offered for this question. Less than 20 percent picked the correct answer.
According to the survey on the reasons, three in four respondents chose “long-term stress,” 65 percent picked “stressful events,” and 49 percent selected “heavy lifting” as causes of miscarriages. There is no scientific proof that these three “causes” can lead to miscarriages, according to the study.
The research results will be presented at a meeting of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology held in Nagoya on April 12.
A separate study conducted by Sugiura showed that an estimated 15 percent of women who have experienced recurrent pregnancy losses because of intrauterine growth restriction, a condition in which the fetus does not grow properly, were diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorder.
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