Reproductive attitudes of couples having a child with cystic fibrosis in Brittany (France).

Cystic fibrosis (CF) has an incidence of one in 2,636 livebirths and a carrier rate of one in 26 inhabitants in Brittany. One objective of a major enquiry among parents having a CF child as well as CF adolescents and adults was to evaluate the reproductive behavior of 124 couples attending a CF care center. Knowledge of recurrence risk resulted in deciding against further progeny or in reducing the number of children (average number of children: 1.96; ideal mean number of children: 3.7). Thirty-five percent adopted or changed their method of contraception after the birth of their affected child, but the change was due to the birth of the CF child in only 14.3% of the couples. Prenatal diagnosis (PD) was favored by 95.1%, and 41.2% had used it; 68.6% were in favor of pregnancy interruption for CF and 76.2% would interrupt the pregnancy should PD reveal that their fetus had CF. All 123 respondents thought that genetic counseling was useful, but only 87.1% knew of its availability. Our results are quite different from those previously published. Although results could be population-specific, one cannot exclude the fact that they reflect a change of attitudes among parents, the other studies being much older.