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Occult abortion: not a major cause of infertility
G van Lijnschoten1, J L Evers, P P Menheere
1Academisch Ziekenhuis Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Objectives:
To determine whether occult abortion is a frequent cause of infertility.
Design:
Prospective observational clinical study.
Setting:
Hospital based infertility clinic, serving as the only primary infertility care facility to a population of 250,000 people.
Patients:
102 subsequent infertility patients.
Interventions:
Ultrasound ovulation detection, timed hCG determinations.
Main Outcome Measure:
Proportion of patients with serum hCG levels > 2.0 mIU/mL (> 2.0 IU/L) on days 12 or 13 after ultrasound-proven ovulation with subsequent appearance of the menstrual period before or at postovulation day 14.
Results:
In 18 of 102 patients increased hCG was found. All these patients became clinically pregnant (9 spontaneous abortions, 9 ongoing pregnancies). No occult abortion occurred (95% confidence interval 0-4%).
Conclusions:
Occult abortion is not a frequent cause of infertility in an unselected population.