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Couples' preconception caffeine consumption associated with miscarriage

Caffeine consumption both before and after conception is linked to pregnancy loss, according to data published in Fertility and Sterility.

Researchers also reported that daily multivitamin use reduced a woman's risk of miscarriage.

"Our findings provide useful information for couples who are planning a pregnancy and who would like to minimize their risk for early pregnancy loss," Germaine M. Buck Louis, PhD, MS, director of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a press release.

"Our findings also indicate that the male partner matters, too," she said. "Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females’."

Buck Louis and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study of 344 couples in 16 counties in Michigan and Texas enrolled in the LIFE Study before conception. The couples kept daily journals and recorded behaviors such as cigarette use, alcoholic and caffeinated beverage use and multivitamin use. They used fertility monitors and tests to detect ovulation and digital pregnancy tests to detect pregnancy.

The researchers stated that of the 344 couples who became pregnant during the study period, 98 (28%) experienced a miscarriage.

Results showed associations between loss and female age of 35 years or higher (HR = 1.96; 1.13-3.38), women's consumption of more than two caffeinated beverages daily (HR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.07-2.81), men's consumption of more than two caffeinated beverages daily (HR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.1-2.72), and women's multivitamin adherence (HR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.25-0.8) during the period of time before conception.

The researchers noted that these findings were similar during early pregnancy.

"Our data suggest that couples' lifestyles are associated with the risk of pregnancy loss, including during the preconception period, emphasizing the need for continued efforts to promote healthy lifestyles before pregnancy begins, that is, preconception guidance," Buck Louis and colleagues concluded. "Couples might continue to be advised that advanced age increases the risk of pregnancy loss and to limit caffeinated intake to fewer than three daily beverages irrespective of source and that women should continue to take daily multivitamins before and during pregnancy consistent with clinical guidance." – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.