Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Previous studies in women with idiopathic infertility have shown that obesity does not independently contribute to the decrease in the success of assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques. However, few studies evaluated the success rate of ART between obese and non-obese women in infertility associated with PCOS.

Objective

To compare the number of oocytes, mature oocytes, number of embryos and the rate of live births (LB), between obese and non-obese women with PCOS after an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)/Intracytoplasmic Injection (ICSI) cycle.

Material and methodology

Retrospective study of all cycles of IVF/ICSI performed at our institution between 2012 and 2018. All women with PCOS-associated infertility were included. Only cycles with a live birth delivery after 24 weeks, or cycles with no surplus embryos left were considered. The participants were stratified by Body Mass Index (BMI) and the group of Obese/Overweight women (BMI ≧ 25 kg/m²) was compared with the group with Normal/low Weight (BMI ≦ 24.9 kg/m²).

Results

We analyzed 49 cycles. The median infertility duration was 48 months (min-max:10–144). Median age was 33 years (min-max: 21–39) and median BMI was 26.7 kg/m² (min-max:17–37). Median Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) was 7.5 ng/ml (min-max: 2.2–18) and median antral follicle count was 30 (min-max: 4–50). In 47% (n = 23) of couples a LB was obtained. After stratification by weight, 61.2% of women were Obese/Overweight (n = 30) and 38.8% (n = 19) were Normal/low Weight. There were no differences between the two groups regarding median age (Obese/Overweight vs Normal/low Weight: 33.5 years, min-max: 21–39 vs 32, min-max: 26–39; P = 0.741), infertility duration (48 months, min-max: 24–144 vs 53, min-max: 10–120; P = 0.071, AMH (7.5, min-max: 2.9–18 vs 6.9, min-max: 2.2–15.7; P = 0.87), or antral follicle count 30, min-max: 13–50 vs 30, min-max: 4–50; P = 0.326). Regarding the results of ART techniques, Obese/Overweight women had a non-significantly higher percentage of newborns, compared to women with Normal/low Weight (50% vs 42%, P = 0.06). We also found no differences between the median number of oocyte (Obese/Overweight Vs Normal/low Weight: 15, min-max: 1–39 vs 13 min-max 1–48; P = 0.35), mature oocyte (12, min-max: 0–35 vs 11, min-max:1–45; P = 0.85) and obtained embryos (8, min-max: 0–24 vs 6, min-max:0–32; P = 0.62).

Conclusion

In PCOS, overweight/obesity does not seem to be a limiting factor of the success rate of ART. Other parameters are probably more important, such as age.