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Becoming pregnant harder if obese
The more a woman weighs, the more trouble she may have getting pregnant through IVF - and she may lose the baby more often, says a U.S. study.Researchers led by Barbara Luke of Michigan State University found women who were overweight or obese were less likely to become pregnant using fertility treatments than normal-weight women.
Past studies have hinted at worse IVF outcomes in heavier women, although they don't prove the extra weight is responsible for the reproductive troubles those women experience.
Luke and her colleagues, whose findings were published in Fertility and Sterility, drew data from a reporting system that includes more than 90 per cent of IVF treatments done in the United States - 150,000 fertility treatment cycles done in 2007 and 2008 at 361 different clinics.
For each cycle, the reporting system included whether the cycle was canceled, if it led to a pregnancy, and whether that pregnancy ended early in a miscarriage or stillbirth, or if the woman gave birth to a live baby.
For most cycles, it also had data on women's height and weight before starting treatment. Heavy women saw poorer results overall. "We know that being overweight and obese is not good, it's just how bad is it and where are the bad effects?" said Brian Cooper of Mid-Iowa Fertility in Clive, Iowa, who wasn't involved in the study.
About 9 per cent of cycles in normal-weight women were stopped early, compared to 16 per cent of cycles in the heaviest women - those with a body mass index over 50.
Normal-weight women had a 43 per cent chance of getting pregnant during each cycle using their own, fresh eggs for IVF, compared to 36 per cent for very heavy women.
Losing a child
For women who did get pregnant, the heaviest were about twice as likely as normal-weight women to lose the baby in many cases. One explanation for the connection between extra weight and worse IVF outcomes is that extra fat tissue releases estrogen, which fools the brain into thinking the ovaries are working when they really aren't, so it doesn't do its part to kick the ovaries into gear, Cooper said.
Age and smoking
However, weight still isn't as big an issue for fertility as age, or whether a woman smokes, he said.
Read more at: timescolonist.com