title: Chlamydial antibodies and tubal infertility.
abstract: Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis antibodies was studied in infertile women with and without tubal obstruction, and in a control group of pregnant women in a Central-African country with a high infertility rate. In comparison with the control group, tubal infertility patients were significantly more likely to have serum antibodies of 1:64 or greater with an age-adjusted odds ratio of 7.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.2-19.1). Infertile women without tubal obstruction had antibody titres similar to the control group with an odds ratio of 1.1 (95% CI: 0.6-1.9). In the tubal infertility group there was a kind of dose-response relationship between chlamydial antibodies and the severity of tubal damage and pelvic adhesions on laparoscopy, with odds ratios of 3.2 (95% CI: 0.7-14.8), 6.2 (95% CI: 1.9-21.6) and 18.1 (95% CI: 6.0-68.5) in the group with mild, moderate and severe pelvic adhesions respectively. This survey adds more evidence to the hypothesis that C. trachomatis is a major agent responsible for tubal infertility in Central Africa.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reniers
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Collet
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leclerc
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ivanoff
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Méheus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000276:immunology; D005184:Fallopian Tube Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005681:Gabon; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012698:Serologic Tests; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial