Shazia Irfan

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the seroepidemiology of and identify factors associated with exposure to Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) in fertility treatment–seeking patients in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates. Methods: A total of 308 fertility treatment–seeking patients were surveyed. Seroprevalence of past (IgG positive), current/acute (IgM positive), and active infection (IgA positive) with C. trachomatis was quantified. Factors associated with exposure to C. trachomatis were identified. Results: Overall, 19.0%, 5.2%, and 1.6% found to have past, acute/recent, and ongoing active infection with C. trachomatis, respectively. Overall, 22.0% of the patients were seropositive to any of the 3 to C. trachomatis antibodies. Male compared with female patients (45.7% vs. 18.9%, P < 0.001) and current/ex-smokers compared with nonsmokers (44.4% vs. 17.8%) had higher seropositivity. Patients with a history of pregnancy loss had higher seropositivity compared with other patients (27.0% vs. 16.8%), particularly recurrent pregnancy losses (33.3%). Current smoking (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.32–11.04) and history of pregnancy loss (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.5–5.8) were significantly associated with higher odds of exposure to C. trachomatis. Conclusions: The observed high seroprevalence of C. trachomatis, particularly in patients with a history of pregnancy loss, possibly indicates the contribution of C. trachomatis to the growing burden of infertility in the United Arab Emirates.

This study describes the primary and secondary infertility in patients attending fertility clinics and reports factors associated with primary infertility. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two fertility clinics in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE) between December 2020 and May 2021. The collected information covered sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical, and fertility-related characteristics. The mean age and age at marriage (±SD) of the 928 patients were 35.7 (±6.7) and 25.2 (±6.3) years, respectively. Of the total, 72.0% were obese and overweight, 26.6% reported a consanguineous marriage, and 12.5% were smokers. Secondary infertility (62.5%) was more frequent than primary infertility (37.5%). Primary infertility was inversely associated with age (aOR, 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91–0.98) and not being overweight (aOR, 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4–0.9) while positively associated with a nationality other than Middle Eastern nationality (aOR, 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.3), married for ≤5 years (aOR, 6.0, 95% CI: 3.9–9.3), in a nonconsanguineous marriage (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.5–3.9), having a respiratory disease (aOR, 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1–4.6), an increased age at puberty (aOR, 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0–1.3), and self-reported 6–<12 months (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.2–5.1) and ≥12 months (aOR, 3.4, 95% CI: 1.8–6.4) infertility. Patients with primary infertility were more likely to be diagnosed with infertility of an ovulation, tubal, or uterine origin (aOR, 3.9, 95% CI: 1.9–7.9). Secondary infertility was more common than primary infertility. Several preventable fertility-related risk factors including overweight, smoking, and diabetes were found to be common among the fertility clinic attendees.