Black women face a significantly higher risk of having a miscarriage than white, research suggests.

The Lancet analysis of data on 4.6 million pregnancies in seven countries suggests being black increases miscarriage risk by 43%.

It calls for people in the UK to be given support after their first pregnancy loss.

Currently, referral to specialist clinics usually occurs after three consecutive losses only.

Most countries, including the UK, do not collect statistics

But researchers estimate:

• 15% of pregnancies end in loss
• 1% of women will experience recurrent miscarriage
• Some estimates of miscarriage rate are higher, but this is due to differences in how countries define pregnancy
• loss, which can be from a positive pregnancy test or from a scan.

The report also found that women who suffered miscarriage, from all ethnic backgrounds, are more vulnerable to long-term health problems, such as blood clots, heart disease and depression.

Doreen Thompson-Addo and her husband Reggie experienced seven miscarriages.

“When I got pregnant the first time, I was very excited,” Doreen said.

“I told my friends and family, I started thinking of names for the baby and planning my baby shower.”

But within two months of her positive pregnancy test, Doreen started bleeding and lost the pregnancy.

“You hear about how common miscarriage is,” she said, “but you never think it’s going to happen to you.”

Doreen, who had her daughter Arielle in 2017, was simply told to “try again” after her first miscarriage.

After her third, she was referred to an NHS recurrent-miscarriage clinic but never found out why she had lost multiple pregnancies.