The prevalence of cervical insufficiency in Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergone ART treatment accompanied with negative prognosis: a retrospective study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the correlation between cervical insufficiency (CI) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in Chinese women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. The retrospective study enrolled 2978 women including 1489 with PCOS and 1489 without PCOS, among which 34 women were diagnosed with CI (1.14%). The prevalence of CI in PCOS women was statistically higher than that in women without PCOS. Among those women with CI, 23 cases exhibited PCOS, and those cases had an average gestational age of 26.09 ± 5.91 weeks at the end of pregnancy, which was earlier than that of women without PCOS, and the pregnancy outcomes were worse than in the non-PCOS group though not statistically significant. Multivariable logistic regression showed that PCOS status (odds ratio: 2.050, 95% confidence interval: 1.009–4.206) were associated with increased risk of CI. Our study revealed that among those Chinese women who conceived by ART treatment, the prevalence of CI in women with PCOS was higher than that in women without PCOS. Co-morbidity of CI with polycystic ovarian syndrome negatively impacts prognosis.

Impact statement

• What is already known on this subject? Women with PCOS have a higher rate of adverse obstetrical outcomes than women without PCOS.

• What the results of this study add? Women with PCOS were more likely to have pregnancies complicated with CI. Co-morbidity of cervical incompetence with PCOS negatively impacts prognosis.

• What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Given these results, close surveillance of cervical changes during the second trimester in women with PCOS is necessary for reducing the risk of miscarriage related to CI.

Keywords:

• Cervical insufficiency
• polycystic ovary syndrome
• hyperandrogenism
• high-risk pregnancy
• pregnancy outcomes

Disclosure statement

All authors declared that they had no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the GDNSF under Grant [2014A030313129].