Fertility after ectopic pregnancy in a district hospital in Cameroon.

OBJECTIVE

To assess spontaneous conception after an ectopic pregnancy (EP) in a rural area of a low-resource country.

METHODS

The present prospective cohort study enrolled patients aged 15-45 years who were treated for EP at Sangmelima District Hospital, Cameroon, between January 2006 and December 2008. All patients who wished to become pregnant in the future were included and followed up from treatment for EP either until termination of a subsequent pregnancy or for 3 years if they did not become pregnant, whichever came first. Patients who were followed up for less than 18 months without a pregnancy were excluded from analysis.

RESULTS

The final analysis included 56 women, of whom 23 (41%) became pregnant (21 [38%] had intrauterine pregnancies, 2 [4%] EPs). The mean interval between treatment for EP and first conception was 11.82±7.46 months. In multivariate analysis, absence of contralateral adnexal pathology was significantly associated with higher fertility (hazard ratio 9.00, 95% confidence interval 1.48-54.67; P=0.017).

CONCLUSION

Fertility after EP in a rural area of Cameroon was found to be low, but recurrence of EP was rare.