Poster Presentation The Joint Annual Scientific Meetings of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2017

The duration of sexual relationship and its effects on adverse pregnancy outcomes (#301)

Prabha Andraweera 1 , Claire Roberts 1 , Shalem Leemaqz 1 , Lesley McCowan 2 , Jenny Myers 3 , Louise Kenny 4 , James Walker 5 , Lucilla Poston 6 , Gus Dekker 1
  1. Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  3. Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
  5. Leeds Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
  6. Division of Women's Health, King's College, London, United Kingdom

The aim of this study was to determine if women who experience adverse pregnancy outcomes including, gestational hypertension (GHT), preeclampsia, small for gestational age (SGA) pregnancies and spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) with or without abnormal uterine artery Doppler flow velocity waveforms at 20 weeks’ gestation are more likely to have a short duration of sexual relationship compared to women who have uncomplicated pregnancies. This study includes 5615 nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies who were interviewed at 15±1 weeks’ gestation about the duration of their sexual relationship with the biological father. Short duration of sexual relationship (≤6 months, ≤3 months, or first intercourse) was compared between women with GHT (n=470), preeclampsia (n=278), preeclampsia with abnormal uterine artery Doppler (n=62), SGA infants (n=628), SGA with abnormal uterine artery Doppler (n=141) or sPTB (n=234) and those with uncomplicated pregnancies (n=3334). Short duration of sexual relationship was more common among women with preeclampsia (≤6 months 11.5% versus 7.1%, odds ratio 1.71, 95% CI 1.16-2.53), preeclampsia with abnormal uterine artery Doppler (≤3 months 8.06% versus 3.2%, odds ratio 2.81, 95% CI 1.1-7.15), SGA (≤6 months 10.2% versus 7.1%, odds ratio 1.49, 95% CI 1.11-1.99) and SGA with abnormal uterine artery Doppler (≤6 months 12.8% versus 7.1%, odds ratio 1.92, 95% CI 1.15-3.21) compared to women who had uncomplicated pregnancies. The association between short duration of sexual relationship and preeclampsia was not significant after correcting for confounders. Our results demonstrate that compared to women who have uncomplicated pregnancies, a short duration of sexual relationship is more common among women who deliver SGA infants, but in particular among women who develop preeclampsia, or deliver SGA infants who also have abnormal uterine artery Doppler.