Why your Miscarriage Wasn't Your Fault: Conversation with Dr. Harvey Kliman, Part 1

 Miscarriage is a well-known secret that you may not be aware of until it happens to you or to a close friend, but it's incredibly common. Studies suggest something like 15 to 20% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth, with the vast majority of miscarriages happening in the first trimester, about 80%, and most stillbirths occurring in the third trimester. Scientists have compared human pregnancy to the pregnancy rates of other mammals and found that the way we "do pregnancy" is incredibly inefficient. This 15 to 20% number I just mentioned reflects errors in pregnancy that we can measure. But researchers who estimate conception rates suggest that an even more common outcome for an embryo is that it fails to implant entirely, leaving no sign of a missed pregnancy. Given that this is a biological reality, how we appreciate our own experience of pregnancy and loss depends importantly on if and how we understand the loss. Today's guest has made a major advance in how pathologists categorize pregnancy loss by recognizing a hallmark of chromosomal abnormality that shows up in pathologies and often isn't well-identified, giving couple's who've experienced a loss a way to better understand that loss.