Sadly, Kelly Brook has lost her baby five months into her pregnancy. The model and actress is not the only celebrity to have suffered the trauma of a late miscarriage in recent months. In February, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, 40, lost a baby two months before she was due to give birth. She had also suffered a miscarriage the previous year. Last November, 25-year-old singer Lily Allen faced the same tragedy six months into her pregnancy. In 2008, she had a miscarriage when she was four months pregnant. So is the number of miscarriages among British women rising? Or are we simply more aware of the problem because high-profile celebrities have courageously told of their terrible loss?
Recent research published in medical journal The Lancet shows Britain has one of the worst records for stillbirth, ranking 33 out of 35 high-income countries. Eleven babies are stillborn every day in Britain.
Losing a baby after 24 weeks of pregnancy - when the baby could survive in an incubator - is classed as a stillbirth. Before that, it is a miscarriage. Every day, 290 British women experience a miscarriage.
Professor Lesley Regan, head of the department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at St Mary’s Hospital, London, says there has been an increase in the number of reported miscarriages. ‘This is partly because the issue of miscarriage has become more visible,’ she says. ‘In my mother’s generation, you didn’t talk about that sort of thing. ‘Also, in the past women often didn’t know they were pregnant early on because you could take a pregnancy test only in hospital. This means many early miscarriages went unnoticed.’
The advent of home pregnancy tests and a more open society have seen a huge rise in the number of reported miscarriages. However, it is likely the actual number of miscarriages has increased, too. This is largely because of the increase in the number of women having babies later in life. A woman aged 30 has a 12 per cent risk of miscarriage. But in her early 40s, that rises to 41 per cent. Over the age of 45, it shoots up to 75 per cent. ‘Miscarriage rises with maternal age - and more women are having babies later,’ says Prof Regan.
‘Early miscarriages (before 13 weeks) are often down to chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo. They are more likely to be a one-off.’ Late miscarriages can be caused by blood-clotting disorders, anatomical problems with the uterus and cervix, or infections. ‘These are problems we are more likely to be able to do something about,’ says Prof Regan. ‘Late miscarriage is far, far less common. Only 1 or 2 per cent of women suffer a late miscarriage, as has happened to Kelly Brook. After 13 weeks, it really is quite unusual. ‘Early miscarriage is common: a quarter to half of all pregnancies are lost. Sadly, the fate of an embryo is often not a happy one.’
Are lifestyle choices a factor for women who miscarry or are they simply the victims of bad luck?
Annette Briley, research midwife at Tommy’s — the baby charity that funds medical research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth — says some preliminary research has linked stress and miscarriage. ‘But for the vast majority, these disasters are a one-off, bad luck situation,’ she says. It is also known that smoking, obesity and immune conditions such as lupus increase a woman’s chances of losing her baby. So are more women than ever before losing babies?
‘There appears to be a trend of a general increase across Europe, despite widespread improvement in health and living conditions. This is a concern, and we do not know quite why it is,’ says Briley. ‘Women can be deeply affected by miscarriage — it is a bereavement, and a particularly painful one because other people haven’t met your baby. ‘Fathers often find it a traumatic time, too, but their suffering is less recognised. ‘I feel really sorry for celebrities who have gone through a terrible personal tragedy and have to deal with it in the public eye.’