Fertility experiences in women reporting endometriosis: findings from the Understanding Fertility Management in Contemporary Australia survey

Kate Young, Maggie Kirkman, Sara Holton, Heather Rowe, Jane Fisher
The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception · 2018 · vol. 23(6) , pp. 434–440 · doi:10.1080/13625187.2018.1539163 · PMID:30481080 · W2903159402
article OA: green CC0 ⤵ 8 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Women reporting endometriosis were more likely to be diagnosed with infertility and take longer to conceive compared to women without endometriosis.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study used a cross-sectional, population-based survey of 1543 Australian women to compare fertility management and reproductive experiences between women who reported endometriosis and those who did not, using multivariable analyses of contraception avoidance, attempts to conceive, infertility diagnoses, time to conception, and pregnancy outcomes. Women reporting endometriosis showed no differences in individual contraceptive use but placed less importance on avoiding pregnancy than others, were about three times more likely to report an infertility diagnosis (with many cases categorized as unexplained female or male infertility), and were six times more likely to report taking longer than 12 months to conceive. The authors found no endometriosis-associated differences in unintended pregnancy, abortion, ever being pregnant, or having had a live birth, and the main caveat is that all exposure and outcomes were based on self-report in a cross-sectional design. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it compares fertility experiences and timing to conception in women reporting endometriosis versus those not reporting endometriosis.

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Abstract

PURPOSE: To examine the fertility experiences of women reporting and not reporting endometriosis in a population-based survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey among a community sample of 1543 women in Australia. Data were analysed to compare fertility management between women who did and did not report endometriosis. Factors associated with unintended pregnancy, infertility diagnosis, time to conception and live birth were identified through multivariable analyses. RESULTS: While individual contraceptive use did not differ by endometriosis status, avoiding pregnancy was less important to women reporting endometriosis (50.5%) than to others (68.7%; p < .001). Women reporting endometriosis were approximately three times more likely to report an infertility diagnosis-the majority (39.7%) of which were 'unexplained female or male infertility'-(p < .001) and six times more likely to report taking longer than 12 months to conceive than those who did not report endometriosis (p < .001). Although more women reporting a diagnosis of endometriosis also reported never having been pregnant (11.9%) than those who did not report a diagnosis (6.0%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = .060). There were also no endometriosis-associated differences in women's reports of unintended pregnancy, abortion, having been pregnant, or having had a live birth. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings counter the common assertion that women with endometriosis are unlikely to conceive, and support the need for health care and information that addresses all aspects of fertility management (not just infertility) for women with endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Contraception Behavior Endometriosis Infertility, Female Adult Australia Contraception Behavior Contraception Behavior Cross-Sectional Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Fertility Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Live Birth Multivariate Analysis Pregnancy Pregnancy, Unplanned

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