First pregnancy becoming ectopic affects the number of children a woman can have for many years, a new study reveals. Apart from that, it heightens the risks of a subsequent ectopic pregnancy also.
Ectopic pregnancies or tubal pregnancies occur when the egg implants and develops in the fallopian tubes. It can put a mother's life in danger as the fetus growth will make the tube to burst, leading to severe bleeding. Ectopic pregnancy, which has symptoms similar to normal pregnancy, is pretty tough to diagnose early and is one of the common causes of maternal death in early pregnancy.
Researchers from Denmark analyzed the long term impact of first pregnancy being ectopic on the reproduction ability of women.
For the study, the researchers looked at nearly 3,000 women included in data from four Danish registries ((between 1977 and 2009). All the participants were followed for more than 20 years and were compared with women having a first pregnancy ending in abortion, miscarriage or birth.
Researchers found having a first ectopic pregnancy lowering the chances of pregnancy for 20 to 30 years and an increased risk (4.7 to 10 fold) of subsequent ectopic pregnancies.
"These results indicate that fertility is compromised in women whose first pregnancy is ectopic and even after 30 years they have significantly fewer children compared with other women," Dr Line Lund Kårhus , a research student in the Gynaecological Clinic at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, said in a news release.
"We had expected that, over time, women would compensate for their reduced fertility by making more attempts to become pregnant. However, our results demonstrate that these extra attempts at pregnancy do not result in the same number of babies for women whose first pregnancy was ectopic compared with other women."
Apart from that, the researchers also found the ectopic pregnancy lowering women's risks associated with a miscarriage (54 percent) or an induced abortion (28 percent).
However, according to the researchers, assisted reproductive techniques may help these women to have more children. The study is published in the journal Human Reproduction.
