Endometriosis does not impair obstetric outcome

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Endometriosis does not impair obstetric outcome
Comparing the course and outcome of pregnancy between women with endometriosis and healthy controls.

Although it is an important cause of infertility, endometriosis does not appear to influence the outcome of pregnancy among those who manage to conceive, research suggests.

While “patients with endometriosis are known to have poor outcome in terms of reduced pregnancy rate per embryo transfer in IVF, reduced pregnancy rate per cycle, and a reduced implantation rate,” there are little data on their obstetric outcome, notes the team from Kuopio University Hospital in Finland.

To investigate, lead author Seppo Heinonen and co-workers compared the course and outcome of pregnancy in 137 women with endometriosis and an equal number of matched controls.

Apart from a lower maternal age in the study group in comparison with controls, the results showed no significant differences in reproductive risk factors between the two groups. Similarly, the team reports that mean birth weight and mean placental weight, in addition to all of the other pregnancy characteristics and outcomes that were investigated, were comparable between the two groups.

“The present results suggest that there is no need for increased fetal surveillance in women with endometriosis,” the authors conclude.

Source: Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation 2003; 56: 207-12


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