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Factor V Leiden Mutation as a Risk Factor for Recurrent Pregnancy Loss

Paul M. Ridker, MD; Joseph P. Miletich, MD; Julie E. Buring, ScD; Abraham A. Ariyo, MD; Daniel T. Price, MD; JoAnn E. Manson, MD; and Joseph A. Hill, MD

15 June 1998 | Volume 128 Issue 12 Part 1 | Pages 1000-1003

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss may result from hypercoagulability.

Objective: To determine whether women with factor V Leiden mutation, a common inherited defect of coagulation, are at increased risk for recurrent pregnancy loss.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: University hospital.

Patients: 113 consecutive women referred for evaluation of recurrent spontaneous abortion (case-patients) and 437 postmenopausal women with at least one successful pregnancy and no history of pregnancy loss (controls). An additional survey of 387 postmenopausal women with at least one pregnancy loss was also conducted.

Measurements: Prevalence of factor V Leiden mutation determined by a second-generation screening test for resistance to activated protein C with genetic confirmation of all borderline and low-value results.

Results: Prevalence of the factor V Leiden mutation was greater among case-patients (8.0%) than among controls (3.7%) (odds ratio, 2.3 [95% CI, 1.0 to 5.2]; P = 0.050). In the subgroup of case-patients with three or more pregnancy losses and no successful pregnancies, prevalence of the mutation was 9.0% (odds ratio, 2.6 [CI, 1.0 to 6.7]; P = 0.048). Among the additional women surveyed, the prevalence of the mutation in those with three or more pregnancy losses (7.5%) was almost identical to that in case-patients. Thus, in all evaluated women with several pregnancy losses, the prevalence of factor V Leiden was increased 2.2-fold (P = 0.026).

Conclusion: These data are compatible with the hypothesis that factor V Leiden mutation may play a role in some cases of unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.

Author and Article Information

From Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
Grant Support: Dr. Ridker is supported by an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, Dallas, Texas. The Women's Health Study is supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute.
Requests for Reprints: Paul M. Ridker, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115.
Current Author Addresses: Drs. Ridker, Buring, Manson, and Hill: Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115.

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