Cancer survivors less likely to become pregnant

Research from Edinburgh University has found that women who survived cancer in the past 30 years were a third less likely to become pregnant than women in the general population.

Analysing medical records for more than 23,000 women in Scotland who survived cancer after being diagnosed between 1981 and 2012, the findings revealed that cancer survivors had only 6,627 pregnancies, far fewer than the 11,000 or so expected for an age-matched group of women in the general population.

Of the women who had not carried a baby before their diagnosis, pregnancy rates were 21 per cent, compared to 39 per cent for healthier women.

Despite the lower figures, the pictures still a stark improvement. In the 1980s, women who survived cancer were half as likely to conceive as others, but since 2005 pregnancy rates have risen to 75 per cent of that seen in the healthy population.

Richard Anderson, professor of clinical reproductive science, said: “This really allows us to quantify the effects of cancer and its treatment, in the broadest sense, on women and girls having a pregnancy afterwards. As well as the treatment damaging their fertility, it’s also women choosing not to complete their family. Some women may not want to bring another child into the world when they are not sure about their own health.”