Admissions for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy rising in England

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Hospital admissions for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy have risen in England since 2021, a large study has found.

Admissions for miscarriage fell between 2010 and 2021, then increased again in the three following years.

While admissions for ectopic pregnancy rose between 2021 and 2024 after a period of relative stability.

Women in the most deprived areas continue to experience much higher rates of admissions than those in the wealthiest areas, researchers reported.

But they suggest that the earlier decline in miscarriage admissions may reflect wider use of clinics like early pregnancy assessment units rather than fewer miscarriages.

Lead author Dr Sindhu Sekar, clinical research fellow at the University of Liverpool, added that shifts in healthcare-seeking behaviour before and after the pandemic, increasing maternal age, rising obesity levels and broader reproductive health risk factors may all be playing a role.

Inequalities linked to deprivation

The study analysed 20 years of NHS hospital data covering 786,984 miscarriage admissions, 211,727 ectopic pregnancy admissions and nearly 12.5 million deliveries in England.