TOPLINE:
Mifepristone plus misoprostol reduces the need for subsequent uterine aspiration and emergency department visits in the management of early pregnancy loss. Despite its effectiveness, mifepristone remains underutilized, with 8.6% of patients receiving it in 2022.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using national insurance claims data of US patients with commercial insurance.
- More than 31,000 pregnant women (mean age, 32.7 years) with a diagnosis of early pregnancy loss between 2015 and 2022 were included.
- The diagnosis of patients included having a missed abortion (72.3%), spontaneous abortion (26.9%), or both (0.8%).
- Researchers compared the outcomes of individuals who received a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol vs those who received misoprostol alone. The outcome measures included the need for subsequent procedural management (uterine aspiration), return visits to the emergency department or an outpatient clinic, hospitalizations, and complications within 6 weeks of initial diagnosis.
TAKEAWAY:
- The use of mifepristone was more common in outpatient clinics than in emergency departments (3.4% vs 0.9%; P < .001).
- The use of mifepristone plus misoprostol vs misoprostol alone was linked to a lower incidence of subsequent procedural management (10.5% vs 14.0%; P = .002) and fewer emergency department visits (3.5% vs 7.9%; P < .001).
- The multivariable analysis showed that the use of mifepristone was linked to decreased odds of subsequent procedural management (adjusted odds ratio, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.87).
- Despite its effectiveness, mifepristone was used in only 8.6% of those receiving medication management for early pregnancy loss in 2022.
IN PRACTICE:
“Continued efforts are needed to reduce barriers to mifepristone use for medication management of EPL,” the authors wrote.
“Any practitioner who cares for patients experiencing early pregnancy loss should consider mifepristone pretreatment to misoprostol to be the standard of care for medication management. Provision of the evidence-based standard of care with the use of mifepristone for early pregnancy loss is an opportunity to advocate for an essential strategy in improving sexual and reproductive health in the US,” wrote Sarita Sonalkar, MD, MPH, and Rachel McKean, MD, MPH, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in an invited commentary.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Lyndsey S. Benson, MD, MS, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and was published online in JAMA Network Open.
LIMITATIONS:
The study was limited by the accuracy of the diagnosis of early pregnancy loss and procedure codes because claims data are intended for billing purposes and may be incomplete or inaccurate. The use of de-identified data meant that specific gestational durations, exact dosing, or routes of misoprostol administration could not be determined. The findings may not be generalizable to those with public insurance or no insurance.
DISCLOSURES:
The study was supported in part by a grant from a Women’s Reproductive Health Research grant from the National Institutes of Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. One author reported serving as an adviser and investigator, while another reported receiving personal fees and serving as an expert witness, contributing editor, and course instructor outside the submitted work.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.