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Cited by 182Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumReproductive System and PregnancyMaternal and Perinatal Health Interventions

The association between psychological stress and miscarriage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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Qu, Fan, Wu, Yan, Zhu, Yu-Hang, Barry, John, Ding, Tao, Baio, Gianluca, Muscat, Ruth, Todd, Brenda K. +2 more·2017·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-017-01792-3PMC PMC5431920
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Abstract

This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to investigate whether maternal psychological stress and recent life events are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage. A literature search was conducted to identify studies reporting miscarriage in women with and without history of exposure to psychological stress (the only exposure considered). The search produced 1978 studies; 8 studies were suitable for analysis. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model with effect sizes weighted by the sampling variance. The risk of miscarriage was significantly higher in women with a history of exposure to psychological stress (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.19–1.70). These findings remained after controlling for study type (cohort and nested case-control study OR 1.33 95% CI 1.14–1.54), exposure types (work stress OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.10–1.47), types of controls included (live birth OR 2.82 95% CI: 1.64–4.86). We found no evidence that publication bias or study heterogeneity significantly influenced the results. Our finding provides the most robust evidence to date, that prior psychological stress is harmful to women in early pregnancy.

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  • Maternal sensitivity impacts secure attachment, and both are associated with positive developmental outcomes.

    “Bigelow and colleagues have discussed how maternal sensitivity (i.e., appropriately responding to cues from the child) impacts secure attachment, both of which are associated with positive developmental outcomes [37].”

    From Exploring the effects of mental health on bonding and caregiving among pregnant and postpartum persons with likely depression and/or PTSD in South Africa: a qualitative analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [37]

    The Results (Effect size analysis; page unavailable) address psychological stress and miscarriage, not maternal sensitivity or secure attachment. Searches for maternal sensitivity, secure attachment, child cues, developmental outcomes, and Bigelow found no passage in our copy addressing the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Sorted by citations

Authors
Qu, F., Wu, Y., Zhu, Y.-H., Barry, J., Ding, T., Baio, G., Muscat, R., Todd, B. K., Wang, F.-F., & Hardiman, P. J.
Affiliations
  • Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (CN)
  • University College London (GB)
  • EBSCO Industries (United States) (US)
  • City, University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Hardiman, Paul J
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-05-11
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
1731-1731
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-017-01792-3
PMC
PMC5431920
OpenAlex
W2611199755
Cited by
182
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 1
FWCI
1.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • City Research Online (City University London) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Reproductive System and Pregnancy
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
Keywords
psychological stress, miscarriage, maternal stress, occupational stress, life events, early pregnancy, risk factors
MeSH terms
Abortion, Spontaneous, Female, Humans, Pregnancy, Stress, Psychological, Confidence Intervals, Odds Ratio, Publication Bias

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