A drug commonly prescribed to pregnant women with an inherited blood clotting disorder and a history of recurrent miscarriages did not help reduce their risk of miscarriage, a new study finds.
Researchers are recommending that doctors stop giving the blood thinner low-molecular-weight heparin (heparin) to patients with an inherited tendency to develop blood clots.
This condition leads to an increased tendency of blood to form clots in veins and arteries.
Stopping screening for inherited thrombophilias and stopping the use of heparin to treat these patients could save the NHS around £20 million a year, the researchers suggest.
They also argued that continuing to offer the drug would mislead people into thinking it might be a preventative treatment.
A new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and Wellness Research (NIHR) and published in The Lancet, shows that daily heparin injections do not improve pregnancy loss in women who have had two or more previous miscarriages and are identified as having an inherited genetic disorder. Chances of live birth in patients with the disease thrombophilia.
It is estimated that this will affect around 50,000 couples in the UK each year.
Siobhan Quenby, Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Warwick, said: “It is always important for patients and doctors to understand any factors that may be associated with recurrent miscarriage, but the link between inherited thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriage has not been proven: recent studies have shown that Thrombophilia is as common in the general population as it is in patients with recurrent miscarriages.
“Across the world, many people with recurrent miscarriages are tested for an inherited thrombophilia and treated with daily heparin.”
Ms Quimby, who is also the deputy director of the Tommy National Center for Miscarriage Research, added: “Research now shows that this screening is unnecessary, that the treatment is ineffective, and that continuing to offer it is a mistake for many. hope as a potential preventive treatment.”
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The study recruited people from 40 hospitals in the UK, Netherlands, US, Belgium and Slovenia.
Some 326 patients with inherited thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriage were divided into two groups—164 who received heparin throughout pregnancy, starting as soon as possible after a positive pregnancy test and ending when labor began.
Meanwhile, 162 people were not receiving medication.
All participants received standard obstetrician-led care, and all were encouraged to take folic acid.
According to the findings, live birth rates were about the same in each group — 116 (71.6%) infants who received heparin were born alive after 24 weeks of gestation.
112 (70.9%) infants in the standard care group were born alive after 24 weeks.
The researchers also found that the risk of other pregnancy complications, such as miscarriage, low birthweight babies, placental abruption, preterm delivery, or preeclampsia, was about the same in both groups.
As expected, 73 people (45%) in the heparin group reported easy bruising (mainly around the injection site), compared with 16 people (10%) in the standard treatment group.
More than a quarter (28%) of those involved in the trial had a miscarriage, and these unexplained miscarriages will be the focus of further research.