The Effects of Pregnancy Spacing after a Miscarriage on Subsequent Pregnancy Outcomes: Evidence from Matlab, Bangladesh

Lauren Hale, Stony Brook University, State University of New York (SUNY)
Julie DaVanzo, RAND Corporation

A recent BMJ article used data on Scottish women to identify the optimum interpregnancy interval (IPI) following a miscarriage; it found that women who conceived within six months after a miscarriage had better outcomes of the subsequent pregnancy than women with longer IPIs. We investigate whether these same findings are seen in rural Bangladesh, and see whether infants born at the end of the intervals died before their first birthday. We use high-quality longitudinal data from the Matlab Demographic Surveillance System on 10,453 pregnancies between1977 and 2008 that ended in a miscarriage and were followed by another pregnancy outcome. We find that, as was found for Scottish women, the shorter the IPI following a miscarriage, the more likely the subsequent pregnancy results in a live birth. However, in Matlab very short IPIs following miscarriages are associated with higher risks of mortality for the infants born after them.