FECUNDITY OF INFERTILE WOMEN WITH MINIMAL OR MILD ENDOMETRIOSIS AND WOMEN WITH UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY

Objective: To assess whether infertile women with minimal or mild endo metriosis have lower fecundity than women with unexplained infertility . Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Twenty-three infertility clinics across Canada. Patient(s): Three hundred thirty-one infertile women aged 20-39 years. Intervention(s): Diagnostic laparoscopy for in fertility. Infertile women with minimal or mild endometriosis (n = 168 ) were compared with women with unexplained infertility (n = 263). Bot h groups were managed expectantly. The women were followed up for 36 w eeks after the laparoscopy or, for those who became pregnant, for up t o 20 weeks of the pregnancy. Main Outcome Measure(s): Fecundity refers to the probability of becoming pregnant in the first 36 weeks after l aparoscopy and carrying the pregnancy for greater than or equal to 20 weeks. The fecundity rate is the number of pregnancies per 100 person- months. Result(s): Fecundity was 18.2% in infertile women with minimal or mild endometriosis and 23.7% in women without endometriosis (log-r ank test). The fecundity rate was 2.52 per 100 person-months in women with endometriosis and 3.48 per 100 person-months in women with unexpl ained infertility. The crude and adjusted fecundity rate ratios were 0 .72 and 0.83 (95% confidence interval = 0.53-1.32), respectively. Conc lusion(s): The fecundity of infertile women with minimal or mild endom etriosis is not significantly lower than that of women with unexplaine d infertility. (C) 1998 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.