(1044) Assessing the Impact of Early Pregnancy Air Travel on First Trimester Miscarriage Rates

Objective: Our study aimed to investigate the potential association between air travel and spontaneous abortions in the general population, addressing the limited and conflicting data currently available on this subject.

Study Design:

We conducted an observational retrospective study using a large dataset comprising 469,976 live births and 76,556 spontaneous abortions from 2010 to 2019. We compared singleton pregnancies that resulted in live births with those that ended in spontaneous abortion in the first trimester, focusing on air travel during the first trimester (4w0d - 13w6d) as the independent variable. The primary outcome was spontaneous abortion. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between the outcome and the exposure. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported.

Results:

In this study, 427,727 live births (97.2%) and 12,263 (2.8%) spontaneous abortions were recorded. Women who experienced spontaneous abortions exhibited a higher incidence of air travel, with 0.11% having traveled compared to only 0.04% among those who delivered live births (P< 0.001). After adjusting for confounding factors (as detailed in Table 1), the odds ratio for spontaneous abortion was 5.20 (95% CI 4.38-6.33) for those who traveled by air during early pregnancy.

Conclusion:

Our study suggests that air travel during early pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of spontaneous abortion.