Hum Reprod. 2008 Feb;23(2):324-8. Epub
2007 Dec 11.
Obesity affects spontaneous pregnancy chances in
subfertile, ovulatory women.
van der Steeg JW, Steures P, Eijkemans MJ,
Habbema JD, Hompes PG, Burggraaff JM, Oosterhuis
GJ, Bossuyt PM, van der Veen F, Mol BW.
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC,
University Medical Centre Rotterdam, The Netherlands. j.w.vandersteeg@amc.uva.nl
Background:
Obesity is increasing rapidly among
women all over the world. Obesity is a known
risk factor for subfertility due to anovulation,
but it is unknown whether obesity also affects
spontaneous pregnancy chances in subfertile,
ovulatory women.
Methods:
We evaluated whether
obesity affected the chance of a spontaneous
pregnancy in a prospectively assembled cohort of
3029 consecutive subfertile couples. Women had
to be ovulatory and had to have at least one patent tube, whereas men had to have a normal
semen analysis. Time to spontaneous ongoing
pregnancy within 12 months was the primary
endpoint.
Results:
The probability of a
spontaneous pregnancy declined linearly with a
body mass index (BMI) over 29 kg/m(2). Corrected
for possible related factors, women with a high
BMI had a 4% lower pregnancy rate per kg/m(2)
increase [hazard ratio: 0.96 (95% CI
0.91-0.99)].
Conclusions:
These results indicate that obesity is associated with lower pregnancy
rates in subfertile ovulatory women.
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