CHLAMYDIAL SEROLOGIC STUDIES AND RECURRENT SPONTANEOUS-ABORTION

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to investigate the putative association bet ween immunoglobulin G antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and recurren t spontaneous abortions. STUDY DESIGN: Sera from 106 idiopathic recurr ent aborters and 81 of their partners were tested for immunoglobulin G antichlamydial antibodies by whole inclusion immunofluorescence and c ompared with 3890 sera from a general antenatal population. Positive s era were further investigated by microimmunofluorescence to determine species (Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Chlamydia psitta ci) specificity. RESULTS: Twenty-six (24.5%) of women with recurrent s pontaneous abortions had immunoglobulin G antichlamydial antibodies co mpared with 28 (34.6%) of their partners (chi2 2.25, p > 0.05) and 788 (20.3%) of the general antenatal population (chi2 1.16, p > 0.05), an d the incidence of antibody positivity showed no trend with increasing number of previous abortions. Fourteen women with recurrent spontaneo us abortions had antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis, 12 to Chlamydia pneumoniae. The prevalence of antibodies to C. trachomatis did not dif fer significantly between women with recurrent spontaneous abortions a nd their partners, but the male partners had a significantly (p = 0.00 5) higher prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies. Chlamydial an tibody seropositivity did not correlate with subfertility or subsequen t pregnancy outcome. CONCLUSION: There is no association between immun oglobulin G antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and recurrent spontane ous abortion.