Impaired fertility in women and men with chronic kidney disease
Piotr Kuczera, Andrzej Więcek, Marcin Adamczak
Abstract
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is accompanied by a great number of comorbidities. One of the most clinically important, present in women as well as in men, is infertility. In this review paper, the entire issue of impaired fertility in women and men with CKD is discussed. In both genders, impaired fertility is caused by the interconnection of several factors. In women, these are as follows: the accumulation of uremic toxins; endocrine disorders (e.g., reduced renal clearance of different hormones, disturbed activity of the pituitary-gonadal axis); the impairment of the ovarian function; a reduced ovarian reserve; sexual function disorders; and depression. In men, quite similarly: the accumulation of uremic toxins; endocrine disorders; the impairment of spermatogenesis; direct testicular damage; erectile dysfunction (ED); and depression. The prevalence of impaired fertility increases with the degree of kidney function deterioration in women and men. The highest prevalence of these disturbances is observed in patients with CKD stage 5. Successful kidney transplantation (KTx) in women reduces the accumulation of uremic toxins, restores the function of the endocrine system and improves, but does not normalize, fertility. Similarly in men, KTx restores the function of the endocrine system and improves fertility up to a point, but cannot fully reverse the morphological damage already done to the gonads by the uremia itself. Infertility is one of the important, yet sometimes depreciated complications in women and men with CKD. The etiology and pathogenesis of infertility in CKD is complicated. Kidney transplantation alleviates, but does not fully reverse fertility impairment in CKD patients.