Abstract

Approximately, 1 in 4 women will experience an early miscarriage. Despite its high occurrence, there is a lack of information regarding trends in the number of new events that occur every year (incidence rates) of hospitalisations and type of management of early miscarriage. In this study, we explored national trends in incidence rates of hospital admissions for early miscarriage in the Republic of Ireland from January of 2005 to December of 2016. We also estimated health issues associated with blood transfusion and length of stay over two days. Over this period of time, there were 50,538 hospitalisations for early miscarriage. Early miscarriage hospitalisations became 19% less common during 2005–2016 but the risk of blood transfusion doubled. The risk of an extended length of stay also increased over the same time period. Women who underwent medical management did not have as many blood transfusions compared to those who had surgical management. However, women who underwent treatment with medication had a 97% higher risk of a prolonged stay at the hospital. More research is needed to explore the patterns of care and health issues associated to hospitalisation to improve protocols of management and the care provided for women who miscarry.