Listen to Story A recent study has uncovered that gestational carriers, or pregnancy surrogates, are at a higher risk for serious pregnancy-related complications compared to women who carry their own pregnancies, whether naturally or through fertility treatments. These complications include severe maternal morbidity, hypertensive disorders, and postpartum hemorrhage. The researchers of the Canadian study highlighted the need for careful selection of gestational carriers and the creation of tailored pregnancy care plans for this group.
The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine . Researchers from McGill University conducted the study, analysing over a decade's worth of data from the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) Ontario database, which covers more than 99% of births in Ontario. The study included data from 8,63,017 singleton births, of which 806 were from surrogates.
It found that surrogates had a 7.8% risk of severe maternal morbidity , which is more than three times higher than that of women who conceived naturally and nearly double that of women who underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The study found that surrogates had a 7.
8% risk of severe maternal morbidity. (Photo: Getty Images) The most common complications seen among surrogates included severe postpartum hemorrhage, preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy), and puerperal sepsis. Additionally, surrogates faced a slightly higher risk for severe neonatal morbidity , particul.