The general fertility rate in women with psychotic disorders.

OBJECTIVE

This study determined the general fertility rate and age-specific fertility rates for women with psychotic disorders.

METHOD

This historical matched-cohort study of patient records from a primary care database (the General Practice Research Database) was carried out for women of childbearing age (15-44 years) with psychotic disorders.

RESULTS

The women with psychotic disorders (N=7,936) had a lower overall general fertility rate than the normal comparison subjects (N=23,023), although fertility was only significantly lower in the women aged 25 and above. This lower fertility rate was less marked in women with affective psychoses. There was no evidence that treatment with neuroleptics influenced the fertility rate in women with non-affective psychoses.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found markedly lower fertility rates in women with psychotic disorders than in matched normal comparison subjects, particularly in women with non-affective disorders. Knowledge of fertility rates in women with psychotic disorders is fundamental for clinicians and researchers, since it has implications for family planning services, prevention of obstetric complications, child-care support, and hypotheses about the etiology of these disorders.