Study launched to examine hormone treatment for early pregnancy bleeding

A study conducted by Scottish universities will examine the use of progesterone to treat early pregnancy bleeding, and whether the current “blanket” approach is appropriate.

The hormone progesterone has been shown to reduce the risk of miscarriage in women who experience bleeding early in their pregnancy.

However, progesterone is not thought to be equally effective in all women and appears to be more beneficial to those who have had several previous miscarriages.

A research team from the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh will now conduct a nationwide study taking place in all of Scotland’s health boards.

They aim to find whether the current approach is the most appropriate and understand how progesterone treatment is implemented in practice.

The study, called PROTEA, will examine the impact on miscarriages and neonatal health.

Professor Colin Duncan of the University of Edinburgh said: “We all want to ensure the best possible outcomes for women and babies.

“This study allows us to explore the uptake, effectiveness and impacts of progesterone supplementation in threatened miscarriage in the real world by looking outcomes from the whole of Scotland.

“The impressive record system within Scotland means we are ideally placed to carry out this important research.”

Dr Andrea Woolner is leading the study, which has been funded by the Scottish Government.

She said: “We believe it is critical that this research is undertaken to follow up on the important findings from the clinical trials investigating this treatment to understand how progesterone may work in real-world settings.”

And she added: “We will use routine data collected within Scottish hospitals to observe how well progesterone works in terms of preventing miscarriage when used across the population and what additional NHS resources are needed to support this service.”