Surrogates face a higher risk of pregnancy and postpartum complications
A recent study found that surrogates are at a higher risk of serious pregnancy-related complications than women who conceive on their own.
A recent study found that gestational carriers, or pregnancy surrogates, have a higher risk of serious pregnancy-related complications than women who conceive on their own, whether naturally or through fertility treatments.
These complications include severe maternal morbidity, hypertensive disorders and postpartum hemorrhage. Researchers of the Canadian study highlighted the need for careful selection of gestational carriers and creation of tailored pregnancy care plans for this group. The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
McGill University researchers conducted the study, analyzing more than a decade of data from the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) Ontario database, which contains details on more than 99% of births in Ontario.
The study included data from 8,63,017 singleton births, of which 806 were to surrogates.
It found that surrogates had a 7.8% risk of severe maternal morbidity, which is three times higher than women who conceived naturally and almost double that of women who conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The most common complications seen in surrogates included severe postpartum hemorrhage, preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy) and antepartum sepsis.
Additionally, surrogates have a slightly increased risk of serious neonatal morbidities, particularly prematurity, compared with women who conceive without assisted reproduction.
The study also highlighted demographic differences between surrogates and women from other pregnancy groups.
Surrogates are also more likely to have given birth before, live in lower-income areas, and have higher rates of obesity and chronic hypertension.
They were generally older and did not smoke than women who conceived naturally, although these trends differed when compared with IVF pregnancies.
Even after adjusting for these factors, gestational carriers continued to have an elevated risk of severe maternal morbidity and preterm birth.
The researchers suggest that further studies are necessary to better understand the underlying mechanisms that contribute to these increased risks.
Given the increasing use of surrogacy worldwide, these findings highlight the importance of providing comprehensive medical care and careful planning to minimise complications during pregnancy and delivery.
