Reproductive treatments cannot improve the quality of eggs and sperm, but patients’ close adherence to reproductive health guidelines can enhance the capacity of eggs and sperm to result in a healthy baby.
Since the success of IVF depends more on the quality of eggs than the quality of sperm, it is important to optimize egg quality before starting IVF treatment. Maintaining a healthy weight range for the future mother significantly contributes to optimizing egg quality.
Increased maternal weight can have a profound negative effect on the IVF procedure and its outcome. A healthy adult’s Body Mass Index (BMI) falls between 18.5 and 24.9, while the overweight range is 25.0 to 29.9, and obesity is 30 and above. Increased BMI can have several negative impacts on IVF treatment:
- More medication needed to stimulate the ovaries
Women with a BMI over 25 typically require a higher amount of medication to stimulate their ovaries for In Vitro Fertilization, yet they may still produce a suboptimal number of eggs. - Lower egg quality
High BMI disrupts glucose-insulin metabolism, which plays a crucial role in the maturation and development of eggs within the ovaries. - The safety of the egg retrieval procedure
The egg retrieval procedure is performed as a transvaginal egg aspiration with ultrasound guidance. With increasing BMI, the quality of ultrasound images deteriorates. - Decreased uterine receptivity
Multiple studies have shown that increased female weight can negatively affect the quality of eggs. Until recently, it was unclear whether increased weight might also lower the receptivity of the uterus. A large study of almost 10,000 cycles of donor egg IVF demonstrated that the probability of live birth decreased with each BMI increase of the recipient mother. - Increased risk of baby’s heart defects
A Swedish study of over two million births found a steadily increasing risk of heart defect rates in offspring (including aortic branch defects, atrial septal defects, and persistent ductus arteriosus) with increasing maternal BMI. However, the study also revealed that exercise, whether initiated by mothers at a young age or later in life, mitigated the risk of congenital heart disease in offspring.
