Factors affecting the pregnancy rate after microsurgical reversal of tubal ligation

Objective

To evaluate the factors affecting the pregnancy rate after microsurgical reversal of tubal ligation.

Design

Retrospective clinical study.

Setting

Private practice affiliated with a tertiary care center.

Patient(s)

One hundred twenty-eight consecutive patients who underwent tubal reversal between October 1992 and May 2001.

Intervention(s)

Microsurgical tubal reanastomosis performed by a single surgeon.

Main outcome measure(s)

Subsequent pregnancy rates were evaluated with Fisher’s exact tests and logistic regression according to clinical characteristics of patients.

Result(s)

The pregnancy rate was 85.7% (54 out of 63) in patients ≤35 years of age vs. 45.5% (10 out of 22) in patients >35 years. The odds ratio (OR) between the two age groups was 7.20, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 2.41 to 21.55. The pregnancy rate was 85.4% (35 out of 41) in patients with body mass index (BMI) ≤25 compared with 65.9% (29 out of 44) in patients with BMI >25 (OR 3.02; CI 1.04 to 8.77). Patients sterilized ≤8 years had a pregnancy rate of 87.2% (34 out of 39), vs. 65.2% (30 out of 46) in patients sterilized >8 years (OR 3.63; CI 1.19 to 11.09).

Conclusion(s)

Age was the primary statistically significant factor affecting pregnancy rate in tubal reversal patients. Body mass index and duration of sterilization had smaller, but statistically significant, associations with pregnancy rate.