Investigators: Nicole Burger
Assisted reproductive technologies have been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, however subfertile women who conceive naturally also have increased adverse perinatal outcomes. We aimed to classify couples birthing at Joondalup Health Campus (JHC) into fertile and subfertile (treated and untreated) conception groups, and compare various demographic, lifestyle and medical factors across these groups. This study identified various differences between the conception groups at JHC, many of which were expected and previously reported.
Overall, the subfertile treated group of women were older, more likely to have private health insurance, less likely to smoke, more obese, and more likely to report multiple causes of subfertility. They reported similar rates of pre-existing medical conditions apart from an increase in asthma and possible ‘bowel conditions’. The study demonstrated an increasing trend of more pre-existing gynaecological conditions and multiple causes of subfertility from planned fertile, to planned subfertile untreated and planned subfertile treated conception groups.
This study will allow future research comparing health outcomes in children born to the different conception groups in this cohort to better understand the background maternal health of groups under comparison. It is hoped that this information can be used to inform future studies that are interested in detangling adverse child health outcomes that may be associated with ART treatment from those more likely to be associated with underlying subfertility.