Pregnancy can be safe for cystic fibrosis patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with cystic fibrosis (CF) who become pregnant following similar lung and health trends as non-pregnant women with the disease, according to a study published in the medical journal Chest.

"Improvements in the health and survival of patients with CF have led to increasingly normal lifestyles, including successful pregnancies in women with CF," Dr. Ann H. McMullen of the University of Rochester School of Nursing, New York, and colleagues write. "Concern exists among care providers about the impact of pregnancy on the health of women with CF."

The researchers compared 216 women from the Epidemiological Study of Cystic Fibrosis (1995 to 2003) between the ages of 15 and 38 years who were pregnant with a similar group of women who never became pregnant.

The pregnant and non-pregnant CF patients experienced similar changes in lung function during follow-up. Hospitalizations for disease flare-ups were also similar in each group.

However, outpatient clinic visits were 62 percent more frequent in the pregnant group than in the non-pregnant group, the report indicates.

"Investigators have previously reported that the outcomes associated with these pregnancies include healthy infants, a slight deterioration in maternal (lung) function, and uncompromised long-term survival," McMullen and colleagues note.

"Our findings are consistent with these reports and, in addition, show a substantial increase in therapy both during and after the pregnancy in women with CF."

SOURCE: Chest, March 2006.