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Health

Genetic errors are behind more than two thirds of early miscarriages

Chromosomal abnormalities were thought to cause around half of miscarriages, but a new genetic analysis technique puts the figure at nearer two-thirds for early miscarriages, with the remaining third probably also due to factors that are out of our control

By Clare Wilson

7 December 2023

An ultrasound scan can usually determine if someone has had a miscarriage

Zoriana Zaitseva/Shutterstock

More than two-thirds of early miscarriages seem to be due to abnormal chromosomes, the packages of DNA within all our cells, in the embryo or fetus. The remaining third are probably also largely due to genetic factors, which we may not be able to detect yet.

Previously, it had been thought that about half of miscarriages were due to these chromosomal abnormalities. Now, a new technique has found that, in fact, the majority of early miscarriages are the…

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