Impact of pregnancy on women with cystic fibrosis.

Title
Impact of pregnancy on women with cystic fibrosis.
Source
Chest. 129(3):706-11, 2006 Mar.

BACKGROUND:

Improvements in the health and survival of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have led to increasingly normal lifestyles, including successful pregnancies in women with CF. Concern exists among care providers about the impact of pregnancy on the health of women with CF.

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings suggest that, over the same time period, women with CF who become pregnant experienced similar respiratory and health trends as nonpregnant women. However, pregnant women use a greater number of therapies and receive more intense monitoring of their health. These findings have implications for clinicians providing prepregnancy counseling for women with CF.

Women with CF can experience a pregnancy with the impact on their overall respiratory and nutritional health being similar to nonpregnant women. Pregnant women with CF will likely require increased use of various therapies and more hospitalizations, and receive more intensive monitoring of their health. In addition, these women will have an increased chance of requiring treatment for diabetes both during and after pregnancy. There is also some suggestion that, with the demands of pregnancy and motherhood, women with CF may not maintain their previous levels of adherence to maintenance therapies, which may contribute to the observed decline in lung function in this group. Recognition and communication of these realities should be a part of prepregnancy counseling for women with CF.