Caesarean section and tubal infertility: is there an association?

Rising Caesarean section (CS) rates have fuelled concerns about the effect of abdominal delivery oil female fertility due to post-surgical complications affecting the Fallopian tubes. The association between exposure to CS and Subsequent tUbal infertility was explored by means of a case-control study. This Study compared 220 women with seconclary infertility due to tubal factor with 1244 women with secondary infertility due to non-tubal causes and 18,376 fertile women (women with a previous live birth followed by another live birth during the time period when the infertile cases were trying to conceive) in terms of exposure to CS. Exposure to CS in women with secondary tUbal infertility was similar to other infertile Nvoinen (21.417o versus 21.6%) but lower in fertile controls (14.5%). Afteradjusting forconfounding factors. CS does not appearto be significantly associated with tubal infertility [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for previous CS for infertile and fertile controls were 1.06 (0.73-1.52) and 1.2 (0.9-1.7), respectively]. However, other factors that were found to be predictive of' secondary tUbal infertility inClUde history of intrauterine device use, pelvic inflaininator disease, ectopic pregnancy. y endornetriosis and previous pelvic surgery.