PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsLifestyle is a factor in pregnancy after IVF, says fertility scientist

BioNews

Lifestyle is a factor in pregnancy after IVF, says fertility scientist

Published 9 June 2009 posted in News and appears in BioNews 466

Author

Dr Kirsty Horsey

Bionews Contributing Editor
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

BioNews reporting from ESHRE conference, Barcelona:By Dr Kirsty Horsey: Scientists looking at pregnancy rates in women who have previously had IVF treatment say that lifestyle factors play a large part in whether a woman will go on to achieve a natural pregnancy or not. Speaking at the annual meeting...

Scientists looking at pregnancy rates in women who have previously had IVF treatment say that lifestyle factors play a large part in whether a woman will go on to achieve a natural pregnancy or not. Speaking at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Barcelona, Dr Ame Lintsen, from Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said that maintaining a healthy lifestyle after IVF treatment maximized the chances of a subsequent natural pregnancy.


The research team found all women who had undergone IVF treatment in the Netherlands between 1983 and 1995 (in the OMEA project) and asked them to answer a questionnaire on their lifestyle and reproductive history; 8669 women responded to the survey. The scientists were looking to find out the rate of the first natural conception after cessation of IVF treatment according to a woman's maternal age, pregnancy history, duration and cause of subfertility, the number of IVF cycles previously attempted, Body Mass Index, smoking and alcohol and caffeine intake. They found distinct patterns in the rate of subsequent pregnancies and the lifestyle of the women concerned.


The researchers found that 1349 of the women (16 per cent) had conceived naturally after stopping IVF treatment (in a maximum timeframe of 13 years). Forty-five per cent of these had conceived within 6 months after their last IVF cycle. However, they also discovered that smoking more than one cigarette a day made a woman 44 per cent less likely than average to conceive naturally; drinking more than four cups of coffee (or other caffeine drinks) a day made a woman 26 per cent less likely to do so, consuming alcohol on more than three occasions per week made her 26 per cent less likely to conceive and being significantly overweight reduced the chances of a subsequent natural conception by 29 per cent.


Similarly, increasing maternal age and having had more than four previous IVF attempts also appeared to reduce the chances of a subsequent natural conception, said the researchers, as did the original cause of a woman's subfertility. If this was due to uterine, cervical or ovarian problems or subfertility in their male partners, the women had a significantly greater chance of achieving a successful natural pregnancy after stopping IVF. However, if the woman's subfertility was 'unexplained' or the problem was with tubal pathology, her chances of a natural pregnancy greatly decreased.


Commenting on the findings, Dr Lintsen said that the results showed that 'women can influence their natural fecundity with healthy lifestyle choices'. Professor Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sheffield University in the UK, said that 'lots of women drink 20 cups of coffee a day and get pregnant falling off a log'. But, he added, 'it doesn't have a massive effect, but if you are already infertile, it could just tip you over the edge. You don't have to stop, just drink less'.

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Comment
17 January 2013 • 3 minutes read

Smokers denied access to assisted conception

by Nicky Drury

An increasing number of NHS clinics that provide assisted reproduction technologies (ART) are denying treatment to women who smoke or have a partner who smokes. But is it appropriate for any lifestyle factors to be used to deny state-funded treatment? And where should the line be drawn between medical 'advice' and 'restrictions'?...

PET BioNews
News
12 October 2012 • 2 minutes read

Formula developed to predict a woman's chances of pregnancy

by Dr Rachael Panizzo

A mathematical model has been developed that predicts the probability that a couple will become pregnant...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Alcohol abuse in women linked to fertility problems

by Katy Sinclair

By Katy Sinclair: Researchers studying Australian groups of twins have established a link between heavy alcohol use and delayed pregnancy, in findings to be published in the journal 'Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research'. Mary Waldron, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author of the...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Fertility hampered in obese women, study shows

by Ailsa Stevens

Overweight women are significantly more likely to experience fertility problems, according to a study published in the journal Human Reproduction last week. Obesity is defined in adults as having a body mass index (BMI) above 30. The study found that for every BMI unit above 29, the...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Guidelines say obese women should be denied fertility treatment

by MacKenna Roberts

Severely obese women should have their fertility treatment deferred until they have lost weight, according to new guidance issued by the British Fertility Society (BFS), based upon their comprehensive analysis of studies which establish the adverse impact of obesity on fertility. The report, published in the BFS...

PET BioNews
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Soaring obesity levels may trigger infertility crisis

by Katy Sinclair

By Katy Sinclair: A Lancet report has warned that the soaring levels of obesity in the western world will lead to a major infertility crisis in women. Commenting on the findings, Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Sheffield, warned that in the next decade the number of...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Overweight couples have difficulty conceiving

by Katy Sinclair

If one or both partners in a couple are overweight they are likely to have difficulty conceiving, a study published in the journal Human Reproduction has found. The research, conducted in Denmark, surveyed 47,835 couples between 1996 and 2002 and found that obese couples were almost three...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Fertility in the UK affected by lifestyle

by BioNews

A survey undertaken in the UK suggests that major reasons why couples fail to achieve pregnancy are their lifestyle, and the increased age at which people tend to have children. The survey, conducted by Pregnancy and Birth magazine, found that many people do not take enough care of themselves and...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Passive smoking could lower chances of IVF success

by BioNews

Canadian researchers have discovered that a woman's fertility can be affected almost as much by passive smoking as by actual smoking. Published this week in the journal Human Reproduction, the study shows that exposure to 'side-stream smoking' - defined as smoke given off by a smouldering cigarette - is equally damaging to...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Smoking cuts chances of IVF success

by BioNews

Women undergoing IVF treatment who smoke are much less likely to have a baby than non-smokers, Dutch researchers say. The study, carried out by a team based at the University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, showed that smoking more than one cigarette a day cuts the chances of success by 28...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« 70-year-old claimed to be world's oldest mother

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
13 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Drop in diversity of blood stem cells leads to old-age health issues

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

UK report reveals public attitudes to fertility, genomics and embryo research

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Shortage of sperm donors despite men willing to donate

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

North East London CCG proposes offering three funded IVF cycles

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Fibrosis drugs reverse ovarian ageing in mice

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Gene implicated in motor neurone diseases discovered

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856