Abstract

BACKGROUND: The risk of common chronic medical conditions among infertile women is not known.OBJECTIVE: To study the association between female infertility and risk of incident chronic disease.STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analysis using the Optum de-identified Clinformatics© Datamart from 2003-2016. 64,345 infertile women were identified by infertility diagnosis, testing or treatment and compared to 3,128,345 non-infertile patients seeking routine gynecologic care. Women with prior diagnosis of the relevant chronic disease or cancer or with either diagnosis within six months of index event were excluded. Main outcome was diagnosis of incident chronic disease as identified by ICD-9/ICD-10 codes. Results were adjusted for age, index year, nulliparity, race, smoking, obesity, number of visits per year and highest level of education.RESULTS: Infertile patients were more likely to develop diabetes (aHR 1.44, CI 1.38-1.49), renal disease (aHR 1.22, CI 1.12-1.32), liver disease (aHR 1.25, CI 1.20-1.30), cerebrovascular disease (aHR 1.26, CI 1.15-1.38), ischemic heart disease (aHR 1.16, CI 1.09-1.24), other heart disease (aHR 1.16, CI 1.12-1.20), and drug abuse (aHR 1.24, CI 1.15-1.33) compared to non-infertile patients. Infertile patients were significantly less likely to develop alcohol abuse (aHR 0.86, CI 0.79-0.95) compared to non-infertile patients. Risk associations were similar after excluding women with PCOS and POI. In subgroup analyses of women who underwent pregnancy and childbirth during enrollment, several previously noted risk associations were attenuated compared to the overall cohort.CONCLUSION: While the absolute risk of chronic disease is low, infertility is associated with increased risk of incident chronic disease compared to a group of non-infertile women.

View details for PubMedID 30710512