Our teams need your help to improve miscarriage research

Across the UK our dedicated researchers, doctors, nurses and midwives are finding causes and treatments to save lives. 

There is so much that we don’t yet know about how miscarriages might be prevented or treated, but that’s not necessarily because there isn’t enough research about a particular treatment. More often, it’s because it is very hard to compare one research study with another even when they are studying the same thing.

For example, there may be several studies on a particular medicine to see if it reduces the risk of miscarriage. But some studies see success as a pregnancy continuing to 16 weeks, some to 20 weeks and others to 24 weeks. The outcomes they are looking at are different.

These differences make it very difficult to agree on any particular way of preventing or managing miscarriage. For this reason, researchers sometimes get together to develop “core outcome sets”, so that everyone is working to the same standard outcomes. This makes for much clearer research results that everyone can use to improve care.

We need your help

Our National Centre for Miscarriage Research is working to develop core outcome sets for miscarriage research – and they really want your help.  Along with healthcare professionals and researchers, you can help develop internationally agreed, standardised sets of outcomes for research in miscarriage prevention and management.

This means you’d be taking part in what’s called a Delphi process. It consists of 3 rounds of online surveys between now and November. 

Each round contains 2 surveys where you’re asked to rank different research outcomes according to what you think is most important.  Each survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and there will probably be about 2 months between each round.  

Your answers will then contribute to a final consensus meeting early next year.

Take part today

Round 1 is now open.  To take part, please fill in both of the surveys below by following each link and registering separately for each survey.  (You’ll see that you need to scroll down and click “Register” to start the survey.)

1.    Miscarriage Prevention Core Outcome Set
2.    Miscarriage Management Core Outcome Set

You’ll be notified when rounds 2 and 3 are open.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact [email protected]. 

In the meantime, the COSMisT* team members send you their sincere thanks and best wishes.

* All researchers love acronyms. This one stands for the Core Outcome Sets in Miscarriage Trials Team!