Spontaneous Abortion During Wartime: A Retrospective Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND

In times of war, healthcare systems face the dual challenge of attending to the medical needs of injured soldiers and civilians as well as struggling to meet the everyday healthcare demands of civilians.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the correlation between exposure to war and the likelihood of spontaneous abortion (SAB) and to compare it to a similar period in previous years.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective study comparing the rate of SAB during war to the previous years.

RESULTS

During the Iron Swords war, 381 patients out of 3245 (11.74%) were diagnosed with SAB, compared to 530 of 4080 (13%) in 2022, 536 of 3387 (13.8%) in 2021, and 516 of 3798 (13.6%) in 2020. The median gestational age at diagnosis was similar between the groups, with most cases identified during the first trimester. The study group exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of smoking (18.47% vs. 7.75% vs. 6.3% vs. 9.3%, P = 0.03), with no differences in the prevalence of chronic diseases and in the method of pregnancy termination.

CONCLUSIONS

Exposure to stress due to war during early pregnancy appears to have no significant impact on the rate of SAB.