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Understanding miscarriage or insensitive abortion: time for more defined terminology?
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Memorial Hospital, Darlington, United Kingdom.
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
|September 10, 1998
Summary
Obstetricians are 6x more likely to use "abortion" than "miscarriage" for early pregnancy loss. Researchers recommend using "miscarriage" with descriptors and suggest "delayed miscarriage" instead of "missed abortion" for clarity.
Area of Science:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Medical Terminology
- Reproductive Health
Background:
- The terminology used to describe early pregnancy loss can impact patient understanding and emotional well-being.
- Previous studies have noted variations in the use of terms like 'abortion' and 'miscarriage' in medical literature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the frequency of 'abortion' versus 'miscarriage' in major US obstetrics and gynecology journals.
- To recommend standardized terminology for describing early pregnancy loss.
Main Methods:
- A quantitative content analysis was performed on articles published in two leading US obstetrics and gynecology journals over the past five years.
- The frequency of the terms 'abortion' and 'miscarriage' was compared to their usage in other English-language journals.
Main Results:
- The term 'abortion' was used 6 times more frequently than 'miscarriage' in the analyzed obstetrics and gynecology journals.
- This contrasts with the usage patterns observed in most other English-language journals.
Conclusions:
- The study highlights a significant preference for the term 'abortion' in specialized obstetric and gynecologic literature.
- The use of 'miscarriage' with descriptive adjectives (e.g., threatened, incomplete, complete) is recommended for improved clarity.
- The term 'delayed miscarriage' is proposed as a more appropriate replacement for 'missed abortion'.