Pregnancy in healthy women is accompanied by hypercoagulable changes that may 
interact with thrombophilia risk factors and threaten pregnancy. However, the 
literature on this issue is conflicting. In investigating the relationship 
between pregnancy-associated complications and the presence of thrombophilia 
risk factors, we studied the records of 414 women who had been examined for 
inherited and acquired thrombophilia in the period 1996 to 2006 because of 
pregnancy-associated complications. Of a total of 885 pregnancies among the 
women, 397 were recorded as foetal loss/intrauterine foetal death during the 
first (62 %), second (25 %) or third trimester (13 %). One-hundred-and-two (25 
%) women had had a thromboembolic event during one of their pregnancies, and 98 
(24 %) had had pre-eclampsia on at least one occasion. Intrauterine growth 
restriction was found in 105 (25 %) of the women, and 29 (7 %) suffered 
placental abruption. We found that 120 (29 %) women had at least one 
thrombophilia risk factor. Factor V Leiden heterozygosity was the most common 
thrombophilia factor (n = 52), mostly linked with the risk of venous 
thromboembolism during pregnancy or postpartum and to foetal death during the 
second or third trimester. Fifty-three (13 %) women had antiphospholipid 
antibodies (lupus anticoagulant and/or anti-beta2-glycoprotein 1 antibodies) 
mainly associated with the risk of spontaneous abortion during the first 
trimester. In conclusion, thrombophilia was found to be considerably more common 
in women with pregnancy-associated complications in comparison with the general 
population, and most frequently in conjunction with venous thromboembolism 
during pregnancy and the postpartum period.