Meditation and mindfulness reduce perceived stress in women with recurrent pregnancy loss: a randomized controlled trial.

RESEARCH QUESTION: Can participating in a tailored 7-week meditation and mindfulness programme with additional standard supportive care versus standard supportive care only reduce perceived stress for women with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL)? DESIGN: A two-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 12-month follow-up. In total 76 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to either standard supportive care or to a 7-week meditation and mindfulness programme led by an instructor in addition to standard supportive care. RESULTS: At intervention completion (after 7 weeks), perceived stress decreased significantly both in the intervention group (P = 0.001) and in the control group (P = 0.006). The decrease in perceived stress in the intervention group was significantly larger (P = 0.027) compared with the control group. At the 12-month follow-up perceived stress was still significantly decreased in both groups compared with baseline (P < 0.0001 in the intervention group and P = 0.002 in the control group). CONCLUSION: This first RCT of a tailored meditation and mindfulness intervention for women with RPL documents that a 7-week daily at-home meditation and mindfulness programme combined with group sessions reduced perceived stress significantly more than a standard supportive care programme. Future studies should address the most effective format and the 'dose' needed for an impact on perceived stress levels.

Serum ferritin level is inversely related to number of previous pregnancy losses in women with recurrent pregnancy loss.

OBJECTIVE: To study whether low serum ferritin (s-ferritin) levels are associated with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), and whether low s-ferritin predicts the risk of another pregnancy loss or the ability to conceive. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Fertility clinic at a university hospital. PATIENT(S): Eighty-four women referred to the RPL Unit and 153 women of reproductive age with no known fertility problem. s-Ferritin levels were measured in serum samples taken before pregnancy attempt. INTERVENTION: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): s-Ferritin levels were correlated to pregnancy history, ability to conceive, and time to conception during the first 2 years after sampling. Furthermore, s-ferritin levels were correlated to outcome of the first pregnancy after referral for RPL. RESULT(S): Women with RPL had lower s-ferritin than the comparison group, 39.9 µg/L versus 62.2 µg/L, and had a higher prevalence of low iron stores (s-ferritin <30 µg/L), 35.7% versus 13.7%. We found an inverse relationship between s-ferritin level and number of pregnancy losses before referral. We did not find s-ferritin level to be associated with ability to conceive or time to pregnancy in either group. Nor did s-ferritin level predict the risk of losing the first pregnancy after referral for RPL. CONCLUSION(S): The inverse relationship between s-ferritin levels and previous pregnancy losses suggests that low s-ferritin is associated with a more severe reproductive disturbance in women with RPL. Whether low s-ferritin is causally related to RPL and if such women could benefit from iron supplementation to achieve a live birth warrants further investigation.