Psychiatric morbidity in a recurrent miscarriage clinic
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying and supporting woman at risk of psychiatric morbidity in a recurrent miscarriage clinic
IRAS ID
229094
Contact name
Kate Atkinson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
R&I Department
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Title:
Identifying and supporting women at risk of anxiety and depression in a recurrent miscarriage clinic
Summary:
Recurrent miscarriage is defined as 3 or more episodes of spontaneous loss of pregnancy before 24 weeks gestation, 1% of women trying to conceive are affected by recurrent miscarriage.
It is thought that miscarriage can lead to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Whilst depression and anxiety impact upon the patient and or her spouse, there is also literature to suggest that psychological burden is related to increased rates of miscarriage in women with recurrent miscarriage. Such relationships are poorly understood but some hypothesise it to be related to the interaction between the psychoneuroendodrine system and the immune system.
Non-pharmacological supportive miscarriage clinics have shown to reduce rates of miscarriage amongst patients who have suffered recurrent miscarriage compared to those patients not attending such clinics.
There is therefore a clinical need to identify patients at risk of anxiety or depression and support patients who have suffered recurrent miscarriage, not only for the patient’s own mental health but also to reduce rates of miscarriage.Design: Observational study involving semi-structured interviews with qualitative analysis.
Participants: women who have suffered recurrent miscarriage and have been identified as being at risk of anxiety and or depression through the routine assessment at the recurrent miscarriage clinic in Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT). Eligible patients will be invited to interview lasting roughly 30 minutes at the clinic sites. Time taken to achieve this number of patient interviews will dictate the study period. Interviews will explore how the recurrent miscarriage clinic in LTHT could best identify women who might need psychological help and support such patients, and how accessible services are to patients.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0400
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion