NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - High-risk pregnancies are more likely in
women who have difficulty getting pregnant, with or without help from
hi-tech fertility treatments, new research finds.
The risks should be considered during pregnancy care of "subfertile" women
and when analyzing the potential hazards of fertility-assisting
technologies, Australian researchers conclude in a report published in the
journal Fertility and Sterility.
Earlier studies had shown that women who conceived using in vitro
fertilization and other fertility treatments had a higher risk of
complications during pregnancy. What was less clear, note Alice Jaques, of
the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, and colleagues from other
institutions in Australia, was whether the complications were linked to the
technology used or to the mother's underlying health issues.
They analyzed the pregnancies of 2171 subfertile women who sought fertility
treatments between 1991 and 2001 but went on to become pregnant and give
birth without using "assisted reproductive technologies." Their pregnancies
were compared to a randomly selected group of 4363 women who gave birth from
the general population.
Compared to the control group, subfertile women were more likely to have
pregnancy complications. For example, about 8 percent of these women had
high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia -- a potentially dangerous condition,
marked by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, that develops in the
second or third trimester -- compared to about 5 percent of those in the
general population. About 35 percent of the subfertile women required
cesarean sections, compared to 23 percent in the general population.
Other increased risks included premature birth and low birth weight. While
rare - 1.3 percent in the subfertile group, compared with 0.7 percent in the
general population - infant mortality was also more common.
After taking into account other risk factors for premature delivery,
including previous abortions, previous pregnancies and live births, and
whether the patient gave birth in a public or private hospital, the authors
concluded that "subfertility in itself somehow is associated strongly" with
very premature birth.
The study results, Jaques and her colleagues note, identify the problem but
don't explain why risks during the pregnancies of subfertile women are
higher.
SOURCE: http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282%2810%2900336-5/ab
stract Fertility and Sterility, online 8 April 2010.
