TOPLINE

A case-control study found that women living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) reported better fertility-related quality of life than those without CKD. This gap disappeared among women actively pursuing pregnancy or who had previously undergone fertility treatment.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a case-control study to compare fertility-related quality of life in women with and without CKD.
• They included 102 women with CKD stages 1-5 (mean age, 35.1 years; 22% transplant recipients) and 84 women without CKD (mean age, 34.1 years).
• All participants completed the fertility quality-of-life questionnaire's core module, covering emotional, mind-body, relational, and social domains, as a validated measure of fertility-related well-being. Those with prior fertility treatment also completed an optional module assessing environment and treatment tolerability.
• Subgroup analyses covered women who were nulliparous, had prior fertility treatment, had not previously had fertility treatment, or were actively trying to conceive.
• Women with CKD were also divided by disease stage, transplant status, and ethnicity.

TAKEAWAY

• Women with CKD reported significantly higher median total scaled fertility-related quality-of-life scores than those without CKD (66 vs 57; P < .001).
• Women with CKD also reported higher median raw and scaled emotional and mind-body scores and higher median scaled social domain scores; among women who had undergone fertility treatment, those with CKD also reported higher scaled treatment tolerability.
• Among women who had undergone fertility treatment, those with mild CKD (stages 1 and 2) reported a lower median environmental domain score than those without CKD (10 vs 16; P = .04), suggesting lower perceived access to and ease of navigating fertility care.
• Fertility-related quality-of-life scores did not differ significantly between CKD and control groups among women who had previously undergone fertility treatment or those actively trying to conceive. Within the CKD cohort, neither total nor domain-specific scores varied by disease stage (stage 1-2 vs stage 3-5) or by transplant status.

IN PRACTICE

"[The study] results demonstrate that fertility is important for women with CKD, despite the additional medical and psychosocial challenges they face. Importantly for reproductive healthcare providers, our findings emphasise the need to proactively address fertility concerns in women with chronic disease," the authors wrote.

SOURCE

This study was led by Mahua Bhaduri, King's Fertility, Fetal Medicine Foundation, Denmark Hill, London, England. It was published online on November 02, 2026, in Kidney360.

LIMITATIONS

The fertility quality-of-life questionnaire used in the study was generic and did not capture CKD-specific symptoms. The study also relied on self-reported responses and voluntary recruitment. Additionally, all participants were based in one urban city, limiting the generalisability of the findings.

DISCLOSURES

The study received funding from the Fetal Medicine Foundation. One author reported consultancy, research funding, honoraria, and advisory roles with various pharmaceutical companies.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.