Estrogen Supplementation Is Associated With Higher Quality of Life Scores in Women With Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: With rapid advancements in therapeutic options for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), the median predicted survival has increased to 47 years along with the prevalence of non-pulmonary complications for patients with CF. Women with CF suffer irregular menses, sexual dysfunction and low bone mineral density. With increasing pregnancies among women with CF, they may consider contraception. Estrogen supplementation may modulate these outcomes and others. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of supplemental estrogen use on quality of life (QOL) in CF. Methods: Women with CF ages 16-50 years were administered a validated CF-specific QOL survey (CFQ-R) during a routine CF clinic visit through an IRB-approved cross-sectional study. The QOL domain scores of subjects taking and not taking estrogen were compared pairwise by Kruskal Wallis tests and overall by Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results: The estrogen exposed and estrogen unexposed subjects with CF had similar age, BMI, FEV1, race, CF mutation, pancreatic insufficiency, diabetes and relationship status. The estrogen exposed subjects were taking 20-30 mcg of ethinyl estradiol in oral contraceptive pills. The estrogen exposed subjects had consistently higher QOL scores than the estrogen unexposed subjects (p=0.001). The estrogen exposed subjects had significantly higher scores in 7 of the 12 CFQ-R categories: physical, vitality, treatment burden and role domains and weight, respiratory and digestion symptom scales (p<0.05). When correcting for multiple comparisons, the estrogen-supplemented women had higher role domain scores than women not taking estrogen supplement (p=0.03). Conclusions: Estrogen supplementation was associated with improved quality of life in women with CF. This cross-sectional study highlights the need for further investigation into the potential benefits of estrogen supplementation. The dose, route, formulation and timing of estrogen therapy may modulate the beneficial effects for women with CF. Support: This work was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award TL1TR002382 and UL1TR002378, and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation award WU20D0. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or CFF.