Cancer Survivors Less Likely To Get Pregnant, Study Reveals

A new study reveals that women who have survived cancer in the past 30 years are about a third less likely to get pregnant than other women.

The research is based on the impact of cancer and the treatment given to patients. The information provided in the research ranges from how certain therapies and drugs harm the fertility of women, to the decisions that women take on leaving hospitals after such therapies.

Scientists and researchers at the Edinburgh University have conducted the research by studying the medical records of more than 23,000 women in Scotland who survived cancer and were diagnosed between 1981 and 2012.

They found that cancer surviving women had had only 6,627 pregnancies as opposed to 11,000 pregnancies in women in the general population.

Richard Anderson, professor of clinical reproductive science at Edinburgh University who lead the research said, “This really allows us to quantify the effects of cancer and its treatment, in the broadest sense, on women and girls having a pregnancy afterwards.”

Women who had not given birth before their treatment were impacted slightly more, with them being half as likely to not get pregnant afterwards. The numbers were 21% as opposed to 39% of women in the general population.

Many cancer therapies and drugs have a lasting impact on fertility of women. However, that is not the only reason that women don’t want to get pregnant.

“Some women may not want to bring another child into the world when they are not sure about their own health,” said Anderson.

Cancer itself can take a toll on a woman’s fertility. In the 1980s, women who survived cancer were half as likely to get pregnant, however, the numbers have increased now since some cancers have therapies that can take less of a toll on a woman’s body.

The research, which has not yet been published in a medical journal, was presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) conference in Geneva.

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Pic credits: animals.mom.me

Also read: Study Reveals 75% Women Don’t Have Healthy Weight During Pregnancy
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