Prevalence and outcome of pregnancies in Norwegian and Swedish women with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Today women with cystic fibrosis have a better chance of getting pregnant than previously reported. In this study, 75% of those who wanted to get pregnant had succeeded. Fifteen percent of pregnancies were conceived by artificial reproductive techniques. The possibility of motherhood must be considered in these patients. It is important to plan pregnancies with optimal follow up by a cystic fibrosis team.

Maternal and Fetal Morbidity in Pregnancies of Norwegian and Swedish Women With Cystic Fibrosis

“…One mother gave birth to four children, seven mothers had two children, and the remaining 15 mothers had one completed pregnancy each. The first pregnancy occurred at a median age of 27 years (range [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Five women conceived by assisted reproduction.…”

“…Information was obtained from medical records and maternal health cards. The Norwegian women were interviewed and given a questionnaire concerning reproductive issues (31). The data from the children were accessed from the medical records from pediatric in-and outpatient clinics.…”

“…The children were followed up for at least 1 year. Unfortunately we were not able to include all completed pregnancies previously reported (31). From Norway all completed pregnancies were included, while in Sweden we only had access to follow-up data of mother and children from two CF centers.…”

“…However, in a Scandinavian study by our group, we showed that out of 61 women with CF with a wish to become mothers, 46 (75%) succeeded in becoming pregnant. Out of 80 pregnancies, 85% were spontaneous and 15% conceived through assisted reproductive techniques (ART) (31).…”

Pregnancy in women with cystic fibrosis

“…The true potential fertility of women with cystic fibrosis will never be known as many choose not to become pregnant as reported in the first of two articles in this journal (21). Attitudes towards fertility issues and pregnancy in women with CF have been reported (22,23).…”