Pregnancy Loss and Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Chinese Women: Findings From the China Kadoorie Biobank

Abstract

Objectives: Pregnancy loss is a common obstetric complication that may be associated with maternal mortality. However, evidence is sparse and inconsistent. This study aims to investigate the association between pregnancy loss with the risk of all-cause mortality among Chinese women.Methods: Data on 299,582 women aged 30–79 years old from the China Kadoorie Biobank were used. Cox proportional hazard regression was conducted to investigate the association between the occurrence of pregnancy loss and all-cause mortality.Results: Two or more pregnancy losses was associated with long-term all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.10, 95% CI: 1.03–1.18). Specifically, more than one spontaneous abortion or stillbirth was associated with long-term all-cause mortality (aHR 1.10, 95% CI: 1.01–1.21 and 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04–1.25, respectively). When stratified by the presence of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, as well as age at baseline, two or more pregnancy losses in women aged ≥50 diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (aHR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.18–1.48) or diabetes (aHR 1.30, 95% CI: 1.06–1.60) was associated with all-cause mortality.Conclusion: Recurrent pregnancy loss, in particular two or more spontaneous abortions and stillbirths were associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality. The associations between recurrent pregnancy losses and all-cause mortality were more pronounced in women aged ≥50 with cardiovascular disease or diabetes at baseline.