SOC-MISC Seminar

Workshop on miscarriage measurement 12 May 2025

Organised by the SOC-MISC team

12 May 2025 1:30-5pm

INED, room 4.029

9 Cours des Humanités

93322 Aubervilliers Cedex

 
Invited speakers (in alphabetical order)

Dr Selin Köksal, Assistant Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Dr Joe Strong, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Beth Sully, Principal Research Scientist, Guttmacher Insitute

SOC-MISC team and partners

Dr Heini Väisänen, Tenured Researcher, INED (PI)

Dr Marie-Caroline Compans, SOC-MISC researcher, INED

Dr Hélène Malmanche, SOC-MISC researcher, INED

Dr Katy Keenan, Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews (project partner)

Dr Hanna Remes, University Researcher, University of Helsinki (project partner)

Anissa Djelassi-Saidani, SOC-MISC project manager, INED

Workshop programme

Presentations by invited speakers
The invited speakers each give a 10-minute presentation discussing the key elements and challenges in miscarriage measurement based on their expertise.

Prompt questions for discussion
The second part of the workshop is an informal discussion on how to improve future miscarriage measurement in quantitative surveys and how to use administrative data to study miscarriage. The discussion can draw on (some of) the questions listed below, but is not limited to these topics. 

*Miscarriage definition

- by study participants?
- by researchers?
- by healthcare professionals?
- by legislators?
- Should we give a definition of miscarriage with a survey question? If yes, what kind?

*Other pregnancies and reproductive events

- Role of pregnancy recognition in miscarriage awareness and subsequently reporting?
- What other pregnancy outcomes should we ask about in surveys and does that affect miscarriage reporting? Effect of starting with “how many pregnancies…”?

*Data quality and comparability

- What is captured/missing in administrative registers? Can we indirectly identify miscarriages that are not registered as such? Which ICD-10 coded should we include/exclude?
- Role of ‘over’reporting in surveys (i.e., which pregnancy outcomes respondents may include as miscarriages)? How are miscarriage questions understood by respondents?
- Can we compare miscarriage data across surveys/countries due to varying (or sometimes lack of) definitions used in data collection?
- What does miscarriage mean to people in different cultures and why? (E.g. does it depend on fertility levels and timing, other cultural factors..?) Links to reporting/stigma?
- Are there interviewer effects for miscarriage reporting in surveys?