COVID-19 Vaccines and Miscarriage Risk: New Research Findings

Key points

. COVID-19 vaccines do not increase the risk of miscarriage, new research shows. The study examined the risks of either the male or female partner getting vaccinated before conception. Health officials recommend the vaccine for anyone person planning to conceive.

TUESDAY, Nov. 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) – A new study provides deeper insight into the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for people planning to become pregnant. Boston University researchers found no increase in the risk of early or late-term miscarriage resulting from the male or female partner receiving a COVID-19 vaccination before conceiving. This study was considered the first to evaluate the risk of early miscarriage following a prior vaccination the conception. It defined early miscarriage as one before eight weeks of gestation. “These findings need to be replicated in other populations, but they are reassuring for couples planning a pregnancy,” said lead author Jennifer Yland, who was a doctoral student in epidemiology. at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) at the time of the study, in a university news release. The study actually found a slightly lower risk of miscarriage in participants who were vaccinated before trying conceive. For the study, researchers analyzed survey data on COVID vaccination and miscarriage among participants in the BUSPH Pregnancy Study Online, or PRESTO. That research, funded by the Institutes National Health Service, enrolls women who are trying to conceive and follows them up to six months after giving birth. This study included more than 1,800 women in the US and Canada who were followed from December 2020 to November 2022. They were observed from the time of a positive pregnancy test until miscarriage, induced abortion, ectopic pregnancy, or 20 weeks of gestation. Seventy-five percent of women had received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine by the time in which they became pregnant.Almost a quarter of pregnancies resulted in spontaneous abortion. About 75% of these occurred in the first eight weeks. The risk of miscarriage was 26.6% among unvaccinated women, 23.9% among women who had received one dose of the vaccine before conception, and 24.5% among those who completed a full primary series before conception, the study found. It was 22.1% among those who completed the vaccine series three months before conception and 20.1% among those who received just one shot of a two-dose vaccine before conception. “Not only was the rate of miscarriage among vaccinated individuals comparable to that of PRESTO participants who conceived before the pandemic, but our data indicated a slightly lower risk of miscarriage among vaccinated individuals compared to those not vaccinated,” Yland said. U.S. government health officials recommend COVID vaccination for anyone planning to conceive. The benefits outweigh any risks, they have said. The study’s findings were recently published in the journal Human Reproduction. More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on pregnancy and COVID-19. SOURCE: Boston University School of Public Health, press release, October 28, 2023

2023-11-08 05:15:00
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