Long-term sexual co-habitation offers no protection from hypertensive disease of pregnancy

Abstract

Long-term sexual co-habitation and previous pregnancies are thought to protect against the development of hypertensive disease of pregnancy. In order to test the hypothesis that pregnancies conceived after prolonged exposure to the partner's spermatozoa have reduced rates of hypertensive disease this study examined the outcomes of pregnancies of women who conceived by donor insemination as compared with women who conceived after IVF with partner's spermatozoa. This was a retrospective cohort study of 218 women attending an IVF clinic, 45 of whom conceived by donor insemination and 173 of whom conceived by partner's spermatozoa. Cases were identified from the IVF unit and data were extracted from patients' notes by blinded observers. Results showed no difference between the groups, with 22% of women who conceived with donor spermatozoa and 24% who conceived with partner spermatozoa developing some form of hypertensive disease of pregnancy. Insemination by partner's spermatozoa was not associated with a reduction of hypertensive disease and neither was donor spermatozoa associated with an increased incidence.