Vitamin supplements may lessen miscarriage risk

Taking vitamins before and during early pregnancy is associated with reduced risk for miscarriage, researchers have determined.

"These results need to be replicated before formal conclusions are drawn," emphasized Dr. Reem Hasan, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Supplemental vitamin recommendations for women who are pregnant, or are planning to become pregnant, are aimed mainly at reducing the risk of birth defects, Hasan and colleagues note in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Their study provides evidence "that vitamins may reduce the risk of miscarriage as well.

Between 2000 and 2008, Hasan's team interviewed 4752 women during their first trimester of pregnancy to determine their use of prenatal vitamins and multi-vitamins.

Overall, 95 percent of the women reported using prenatal vitamins or multivitamins at some point during the first three months of pregnancy. About half the women reported taking vitamins prior to conception.

There were 524 miscarriages among the subjects. The researchers found that the risk for miscarriage was 57 percent lower among women who took vitamins, compared to those who did not.