Parental karyotype and subsequent live births in recurrent miscarriage

Objective: To compare the subsequent live birth rate in recurrently miscarrying women with and without parental balanced chromosomal aberrations. Design: Retrospective comparative cohort study. Setting: Tertiary referral unit in a university hospital. Patient(s): Nine hundred sixteen patients with 3-16 miscarriages before 20 weeks: 99 patients with and 817 patients without chromosomal aberrations. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): Outcome of the subsequent pregnancy in terms of live births or repeat miscarriage. Result(s): Of the 916 patients, 661 subsequently conceived, 73 (73.7%) with parental chromosomal aberrations and 588 (71.9%) without aberrations. In patients with and without chromosomal aberrations, 33 of 73 pregnancies (45.2%) and 325 of 588 pregnancies (55.3%), respectively, resulted in live births. The difference is not statistically significant. There was a similar prevalence of aberrations in primary, secondary, and tertiary aborters. The prevalence of aberrations was not related to the number of previous miscarriages. Translocations, inversions, and mosaicism were followed by a similar live birth rate. Conclusion(s): Patients with parental chromosomal rearrangements do not have a significantly lower live birth rate than patients without aberrations. Parental karyotyping might not be a good predictor of the outcome of subsequent pregnancies. (Fertil Steril((R)) 2004;81:1296-301. (C)2004 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.).