Miscarriage Assessment Questionnaire

Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques to assess the symptom: Miscarriage. These will include a physical examination and possibly diagnostic tests. (Note: A physical exam is always done, diagnostic tests may or may not be performed depending on the suspected condition) Your doctor will ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to openly share any pertinent information to help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.

It is also very important to bring an up-to-date list of all of your all medical conditions, medications including dosages, and names of numbers of any specialist you see.

Create your printable checklist by answering questions that your doctor may ask below:

Privacy Statement
No private information is transferred over the internet. Do not use the "Browser back button", as this may cause data loss.

What symptoms of miscarriage do you have?
Why: e.g. a period of amenorrhea (missed menstrual periods) followed by vaginal bleeding, lower abdominal pain (cramping), passing products of conception via the vagina and sometimes loss of pregnancy symptoms.
When was you last menstrual period and was it normal?
Why: to help determine the gestation of the pregnancy (how far along the pregnancy is). Miscarriage is the termination of pregnancy at less than 20 weeks gestation. If miscarriage occurs when over 13 weeks pregnant it is more likely to be due to maternal factors such as cervical incompetence, uterine abnormalities or maternal disease.
Prior to pregnancy was your menstrual cycle regular?
Why: to help determine the gestation of the pregnancy (how far along the pregnancy is).
How many times in the past, including this pregnancy have you been pregnant?
What was the outcome of each of these pregnancies?
Why: (i.e. vaginal birth, caesarian section, forceps delivery, vacuum delivery, stillbirths, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy) ?
For each of the babies delivered what are the details of pregnancy?
Why: (i.e. complications during pregnancy, gestation at delivery, mode of delivery, weight at birth and complications after delivery)?
Have you had any previous miscarriages in the past, if so how many weeks pregnant were you and what management was require?
Why: e.g. dilatation and curettage.
If previous miscarriages, where chromosomal tests performed on the fetus?
Why: 50 % of first trimester miscarriages are due to chromosomal abnormalities.
Any known infections contracted during this pregnancy?
Why: e.g. toxoplasmosis, Chlamydia, listeriosis, syphilis, herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus - may suggest cause of miscarriage.
Past history of problems with conceiving?
Past history of sexually transmitted diseases?
Date and result of the last pap smear?
Past history of abnormal pap smears, and if so what was the treatment for it?
Why: e.g. cone biopsy for abnormal pap smears may increase the risk of cervical incompetence and thus miscarriage.
Past medical history?
Why: medical conditions that increase the risk of miscarriage include diabetes, hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome, fibroids, Ashermann's syndrome, cervical incompetence, uterine structural abnormalities, systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, hypertension, kidney disease.
Medications?
Why: e.g. diethylstilbestrol exposure is associated with miscarriage and fetal abnormalities.
Cigarette smoking?
Why: increases the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
Family history?
Why: e.g. miscarriage, congenital abnormalities, medical conditions.
Vaginal bleeding, if so how much are you losing?
Why: e.g. spotting, small clots, large clots, flooding - to determine the risk of shock.
Abdominal pain, if so how would you describe the pain and point to where the pain is maximal?
Why: e.g. uterine pain from a miscarriage tends to be colicky (cramp-like) and felt in the sacrum and groin; ovarian pain and pain from an ectopic pregnancy tends to be felt on one side in the lower pelvis and may radiate down the front of the thigh to the knee.
Products of conception passed?
Why: to help determine type of miscarriage e.g. complete miscarriage is when all products of conception are passed; incomplete miscarriage is when not all the products of conception are passed; if no products of conception are passed it may be a threatened, inevitable or missed miscarriage depending on whether the cervical opening is open or closed.
Offensive vaginal discharge and fever?
Why: may indicate a septic or infected miscarriage (may occur with backstreet abortion, therapeutic termination of pregnancy, spontaneous miscarriage or after a dilatation and curettage).
Symptoms of ectopic pregnancy?
Why: e.g. history of missed periods, lower abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding which may be slight and brown in color, pregnancy symptoms, dizziness, may faint - must consider the possibility of ectopic pregnancy early in the management of bleeding in early pregnancy as ectopic pregnancy may be life threatening.

Conditions listing medical symptoms: Miscarriage:

The following list of conditions have 'Miscarriage' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Miscarriage or choose View All.

View All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W #

Conditions listing medical complications: Miscarriage:

The following list of medical conditions have 'Miscarriage' or similar listed as a medical complication in our database.

» Next page: Types of Miscarriage

Medical Tools & Articles:

Tools & Services:

Bookmark this page
Related medical articles for Miscarriage:
Symptom Search
Symptom Checker
Medical Dictionary

Medical Articles:

Forums & Message Boards

Ask or answer a question at the Boards:

Next: Misdiagnosis of Miscarriage

homepage | back to top

Search Specialists by State and City