Pregnancy and contraceptive counseling of women with chronic kidney disease and kidney transplants

Women with kidney disease of childbearing age should expect proactive counseling regarding pregnancy and contraception. Discussions should include the impact of pregnancy on their kidney disease and the impact of kidney disease on maternal and fetal outcomes. However, nephrologists rarely discuss sexual dysfunction, infertility, menstrual irregularities, and contraception with their premenopausal women patients. This review will consider pregnancy-related issues to discuss when counseling women with all stages of chronic kidney disease. Issues related to contraception in women on dialysis, women with functioning kidney transplants, and those with chronic kidney disease will also be reviewed. (c) 2007 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.