Risk factors for miscarriage in Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan: results from the Women ASPIRE cross-sectional study

Syrian refugee women face health care disparities and experience worse pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage. We investigated risk factors for miscarriage in Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan to identify targets for interventions.

We analyzed data from Women ASPIRE, a cross-sectional study of gendered physical and mental health concerns of 507 Syrian refugee women (≥ 18 years old) living in non-camp settings in Jordan. We recruited women using systematic clinic-based sampling from four clinics. We limited our analyses to women who had a history of pregnancy and whose most recent pregnancy was single, took place in Jordan, and ended in term live birth or miscarriage (N = 307). We grouped the women by the primary outcome (term live birth or miscarriage) and compared the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the two groups. We used Pearson's χ² test or the Mann-Whitney U test to obtain unadjusted estimates and multivariable binomial logistic regression to obtain adjusted estimates.

The most recent pregnancies of 262 women (85%) ended in term live birth and another 45 (15%) ended in miscarriage. Since crossing into Jordan, 11 women (4%) had not received reproductive health services. Of 35 women who were ≥ 35 years old, not pregnant, and did not want a (or another) child, nine (26%) did not use contraception. Of nine women who were ≥ 35 years old and pregnant, seven (78%) did not plan the pregnancy. The adjusted odds of miscarriage were higher in women who had been diagnosed with thyroid disease (aOR, 5.54; 95% CI, 1.56-19.07), had been of advanced maternal age (aOR, 5.83; 95% CI, 2.02-16.91), and had not received prenatal care (aOR, 36.33; 95% CI, 12.04-129.71). Each additional previous miscarriage predicted an increase in the adjusted odds of miscarriage by a factor of 1.94 (1.22-3.09).

We identified several risk factors for miscarriage in Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan. The risk factors may be amenable to preconception and prenatal care.