Quality of life and psychological distress in women with recurrent miscarriage: a comparative study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate quality of life and psychological distress in Iranian women with recurrent miscarriage and to compare it in women without miscarriage. METHODS: This was a comparative study of quality of life among women with and without recurrent miscarriage. Cases were selected from patients with complain of recurrent miscarriage and comparison group were selected from women attending to two teaching hospitals for annual screening. Quality of life (QOL) was measured using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36). In addition the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to measure anxiety and depression. Comparison was made between two groups using the independent samples t-test and chi-square. RESULTS: In all 105 women with recurrent miscarriage and 105 healthy women were studied. The socio-demographic status for both groups was similar. Women with recurrent miscarriage showed a significant higher degree of psychological distress [mean (SD) anxiety score was: 10.6 (2.3) vs. 9.1 (2.2), P < 0.0001; and mean (SD) depression score was: 11.0 (2.3) vs. 9.5 (1.9), P < 0.0001]. In addition women with recurrent miscarriage reported significantly lower level of quality of life in all domains (role physical, general health, vitality, social functioning, role emotional, and mental health, all P values < 0.0001), except for physical functioning (P = 0.06) and bodily pain (P = 0.17). CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrated that women with recurrent miscarriage reported extensive functional disability, and lower level of well-being compared to women without recurrent miscarriage. The findings have some implications for prenatal care and suggest that appropriate treatment of recurrent miscarriage is essential.