Correlation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) infertility treatment outcomes and body weight index in women of reproductive age

Backgraund: obesity/overweight in women are often the causes of menstrual dysfunction and infertility.

Aims: To identify the association between overweight/obesity and IVF outcomes.

Materials and methods: retrospective study — data of 1874 patients undergoing IVF in the Endocrinology Research Centre (2012–2019) was analyzed. Exclusion criteria: BMI <18.5 kg/m2, polycystic ovary syndrome, donation of ­oocytes, ectopic pregnancy, fertilization with partner’s epididymal/testicular sperm. The study included 1583 women aged 21–45 years (median 33.0 y.o. [30.0; 37.0], median BMI 23 kg/m2 [20.7; 26.2]). Statistical data processing was performed using the STATISTICA application package (StatSoft). The threshold level of statistical significance is <0.05.

Results: Patients were divided into 5 groups (gr.): normal body weight (NBW) - 1061 people (ppl.) (gr. 1), overweight — 368 (gr. 2), class I obesity — 117 (gr. 3), class II obesity — 36 (gr. 4), class III obesity — 1 (gr. 5). In each group, the estimated pregnancy rate (PR) and its outcomes, the frequency of lightweight newborns (body weight at birth <2500g), newborns with NBW (2500-3999g), births with a large fetus (≥4000g) were measured. The PR didn’t differ: 34.6%, 34.5%, 30,7%, 41,7%, respectively, the woman in gr.5 got pregnant. Among 407 (74.4%) singleton pregnancies urgent delivery was registered in 71.91%, 67,57%, 70,83%, 60,0%, gr. 5 — no ­information. Premature birth: 7,66%, 5,41%, 8,33%, 0%. Spontaneous abortion in the 1st trimester: 18,30%, 25,68%, 20,83%, 40,0%. Spontaneous abortion in the 2nd trimester: 2,13%, 1,35% in gr. 2, 3, 4. Lightweight newborns: 8,81%, 11,36%, 6,25%, 0%. Newborns with NBW: 84,91%, 84,09%, 75,0%, 60,0%. Large-childbirth — 6,29%, 4,55%, 18,75%, 40,0%.

Conclusions: Correlation analysis of the dependence of PR and its outcomes on the BMI was not revealed (p=0.975 and p=0.469, respectively). Large fetus births were more often detected in obese patients (p=0.0016). A large prospective group is needed to expand the estimated body parameters to the IVF outcomes.

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