Caesarean section and tubal infertility: is there an association?

Lucky Saraswat, Saraswat L, Porter M, Maureen Porter, Bhattacharya S, Sohinee Bhattacharya, Siladitya Bhattacharya
Reproductive biomedicine online · 2008 · vol. 17(2) , pp. 259–264 · doi:10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60203-9 · PMID:18682001 · W2131563025
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This case-control study found no significant association between prior Caesarean section and tubal infertility after adjusting for confounding factors.

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Abstract

Rising Caesarean section (CS) rates have fuelled concerns about the effect of abdominal delivery on female fertility due to post-surgical complications affecting the Fallopian tubes. The association between exposure to CS and subsequent tubal infertility was explored by means of a case-control study. This study compared 220 women with secondary infertility due to tubal factor with 1244 women with secondary infertility due to non-tubal causes and 18,376 fertile women (women with a previous live birth followed by another live birth during the time period when the infertile cases were trying to conceive) in terms of exposure to CS. Exposure to CS in women with secondary tubal infertility was similar to other infertile women (21.4% versus 21.6%) but lower in fertile controls (14.5%). After adjusting for confounding factors, CS does not appear to be significantly associated with tubal infertility [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for previous CS for infertile and fertile controls were 1.06 (0.73-1.52) and 1.2 (0.9-1.7), respectively]. However, other factors that were found to be predictive of secondary tubal infertility include history of intrauterine device use, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, endometriosis and previous pelvic surgery.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Cesarean Section Fallopian Tube Diseases Infertility, Female Adult Case-Control Studies Cesarean Section Cesarean Section Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Fallopian Tube Diseases Fallopian Tube Diseases Female Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Intrauterine Devices Intrauterine Devices Intrauterine Devices Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

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