European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Recurrent abortion refers to the loss of two or more pregnancies before 20 weeks of
gestation. Recurrent abortion could be because of environmental, physiological,
endocrinological or biochemical factors. Perceived stress scale (PSS) is the most widely used
psychological tool to scale the perception of stress and is a measure of the degree to which
situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful. However, the role of psychological stress in
recurrent abortions has not been examined properly. Hence, the present study was conducted
to evaluate the perceived stress in women with recurrent abortions with no known risk factors
for obstetric complications and to determine demographic and pregnancy-related factors
associated with stress. In the current study 136 women with recurrent abortions were included
in the test group and 110 healthy women with one or two children were selected as control
subjects. Perceived stress scale (PSS) was employed to assess the women’s stress status and
correlate it with various demographic, physiological and clinical characteristics of the study
subjects.Cytokinesis-block micronuclei (CBMN) assay was also performed to quantify the
extent of somatic DNA damages among subjects with recurrent abortions. Women with
recurrent abortion showed a statistically significant increased score of PSS and CBMN
frequency than the control subjects.