A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN UTERINE FIBROIDS AND FEMALE INFERTILITY IN AN ALGERIAN POPULATION

Introduction: Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumors of the female genital tract, and many studies have been performed in order to define the impact of uterine fibroids on female infertility. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether the presence of uterine fibroids may influence fertility in Algerian women and to determine which type of fibroids is most related to infertility in our region.

Methods: To find the relationship between uterine fibroids and infertility, we performed a retrospective study that included 303 patients; research was done in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of the Wilaya of Sidi Bel Abbes. Data for the study were taken from the individual patient medical records and included: age, marital status, parity, gynecological obstetric history, age of menarche, the number location and size of fibroids, fertility problem, and infertility type.

Results: 33.00% of patient in the sample suffered from infertility problem, 60.00% of the women with infertility problem had secondary infertility and 40.00% had primary infertility. 27.39% of patients had a history of miscarriage, the number of abortion in the sample ranged from 1 to 4 with percentages respectively 69.88% - 19.27%-9.63% and 1.20%. The statistical analyses showed a statistically significant relationship between the type of fibroid and fertility P (χ²) = 0.022, highest number of infertile patient was found in women suffering from submucosal fibroid, a statistically significant relationship between the type of fibroid and the history of miscarriage was found P(χ²)=0.0001, menstrual cycles irregularity where not associated with infertility P(χ²)=0.63.

Conclusion: This study tried to answer the question of whether the existence of a fibroid is causally related to female infertility. The result showed that 33.00% of the patient with fibroid suffered from fertility problem, indeed this study demonstrated that fibroids may be associated with reduced fertility and an increased rate of miscarriage, it also pointed that submucosal fibroid appear to have a higher impact on fertility outcomes.