Socio demographic correlates of pregnancy in cancer survivors using data from NHANES 1999–2002
18542 Background: Many cancer therapies can cause infertility and impaired fecundity. These are important long term outcomes of concern for survivors, which can affect their quality of life. Little is known about the socio-demographic correlates of impaired fecundity (inability to get pregnant or carry child to term) in cancer survivors. The purpose of this study is to assess socio demographic correlates of “ever pregnant” in the general American population of cancer survivors. Methods: Using data from adult (>20 years old) female cancer survivor participants of the 1999–2002 iterations of the population based cross sectional survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES), we used logistic regression to examine the relationship between “ever” being pregnant and socio-demographic variables. Results: Complete data were available for 7558 females. Cancer survivors represented 8.2 % of that population. On univariate analysis, being married and having ≤ high school education were associated with a greater likelihood of “ever” pregnant compared to those unmarried and those with greater than high school education (p < .05). In cancer survivors of reproductive age (between the ages of 20 and 50) being Black or Hispanic was associated with a greater likelihood of “ever” pregnant compared to whites (p < .05). Interestingly, differences in race, income, health insurance status, and marital status were not significantly associated with “ever” pregnant on multivariate analysis of all female survivors older than 20. Conclusions: These results suggest there are differences in impaired fecundity between different groups of cancer survivors. However, questions in NHANES were not designed to explicitly examine fertility related outcomes. Additional studies that specifically examine measures of fertility in survivors are needed to understand the burden of this undesirable outcome in survivors. No significant financial relationships to disclose.