Fertility and contraceptive issues after kidney transplantation in women

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to investigate reproductive performance among kidney transplant recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 126 kidney transplanted women 15 to 68 years of age including 33 who were single and 93 who were married. RESULTS: Infertility was seen in 10.4% of those who desired pregnancy, a rate similar to the general population. The most common method of contraception was coitus interruptus (56%), 22% of patients had tubal ligation, 6% had husbands who had vasectomies, 14% were using condoms, and only 2% used oral contraceptives. Among 33 pregnancies, 16 were unintended (48.5%). Most of the patients with unwanted pregnancy were using coitus interruptus (93.7%). In the group with unintended pregnancy, abortion was induced in three, spontaneous abortion or intrauterine fetal death occurred in six, and only seven pregnancies resulted in a live birth (43.7%). CONCLUSION: Kidney transplantation greatly improves fertility, so those who do not desire pregnancy should be protected by an effective method of contraception.