Fertility of women with cystic fibrosis: a French survey

Publication date: Available online 7 May 2019Source: Reproductive BioMedicine OnlineAuthor(s): Anna Tournier, Marlène Murris, Anne Prevotat, Annlyse Fanton, Célia Bettiol, Jean ParinaudAbstractEven though the impact of cystic fibrosis (CF) on male fertility is well known, very few studies have investigated its effect on women fertility. In order to evaluate the fertility status of women with cystic fibrosis a questionnaire was sent to 220 women with cystic fibrosis. The questions concerned their desire to become a parent, achievement or not of a pregnancy, the time to became pregnant, the way to obtain pregnancy (spontaneously or with medical assistance) and the outcome of the pregnancy.. Ninety eight patients responded to the questionnaire. Twenty-five (54%) had at least 1 live birth without treatment, while 11 (24%) required infertility treatment to obtain a live birth and 10 (22%) had no delivery. The mean time to pregnancy was 12 months [1-180]. The reasons for preferring not to be pregnant were mainly the fear of the interaction between CF and pregnancy and of the transmission of CF to children. Fertility seems to be slightly impaired in CF women since 37% of them failed to become pregnant without medical assistance. Since the outcome of pregnancies appears normal, patients should be informed of the possibility of becoming mothers and be made aware of the risk of unwanted pregnancies.
Source: Reproductive BioMedicine Online - Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research