Endometriosis and assisted reproductive techniques independently related to mother-child morbidities: a French longitudinal national study

Research question: Does endometriosis increase obstetric and neonatal complications, and does assisted reproductive technology (ART) cause additional risk of maternal or fetal morbidity?

Design: A nationwide cohort study (2013-2018) comparing maternal and perinatal morbidities in three groups of single pregnancies: spontaneous pregnancies without endometriosis; spontaneous pregnancies with endometriosis; and ART pregnancies in women with endometriosis.

Results: Mean maternal ages were 30.0 (SD = 5.3), 31.7 (SD = 4.8) and 33.1 years (SD = 4.0), for spontaneous conceptions, spontaneous conceptions with endometriosis and ART pregnancies with endometriosis groups, respectively (P < 0.0001). Comparison of spontaneous conceptions with endometriosis and spontaneous conceptions: endometriosis independently increased the risk of venous thrombosis (adjusted OR [aOR] 1.51, P < 0.001), pre-eclampsia (aOR 1.29, P < 0.001), placenta previa (aOR 2.62, P < 0.001), placental abruption (aOR 1.54, P < 0.001), premature birth (aOR 1.37, P < 0.001), small for gestational age (aOR 1.05, P < 0.001) and malformations (aOR 1.06, P = 0.049). Comparison of ART pregnancies with endometriosis and spontaneous conceptions with endometriosis: ART increased the risk of placenta previa (aOR 2.43, 95% CI 2.10 to 2.82, P < 0.001), premature birth (aOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.55, P < 0.001) and small for gestational age (aOR 1.18, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.27, P < 0.001), independently from the effect of endometriosis. Risk of pre-eclampsia, placental abruption or congenital malformations was not increased with ART.

Conclusion: Endometriosis is an independent risk factor for mother and child morbidities. Maternal morbidity and perinatal morbidity were significantly increased by ART in addition to endometriosis; however, some perinatal and maternal morbidity risks were increasingly linked to pathologies related to infertility.