A new study reveals that waist circumference is a better predictor of infertility in women than body mass index. The study, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, found that women with higher waist circumference had a higher risk of infertility, regardless of their marital status, diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol levels. The study suggests that managing waist size may help improve fertility outcomes in women.
Infertility is a condition that affects millions of couples worldwide, and its causes are not fully understood. Obesity, which is increasingly common among women of reproductive age, is one of the factors that may impair fertility. Obesity can affect hormonal balance, ovulation, and implantation, as well as increase the risk of miscarriage and pregnancy complications.
However, obesity is not a uniform condition, and different measures of body fat distribution may have different impacts on fertility. Waist circumference (WC) is a simple and convenient indicator of central obesity, which reflects the accumulation of visceral fat around the abdominal organs. Visceral fat is more metabolically active and inflammatory than subcutaneous fat, and may have more detrimental effects on reproductive function.
Previous studies have shown that WC is associated with various health problems, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. However, few studies have examined the relationship between WC and infertility in women. To address this gap, researchers from China analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a large-scale survey that collects health and nutrition information from a representative sample of the US population.
The researchers included 1,509 women aged 18 to 45 who participated in NHANES from 2017 to 2020. They divided the women into three groups based on their WC: tertile 1 (WC < 80 cm), tertile 2 (80 cm ≤ WC < 93 cm), and tertile 3 (WC ≥ 93 cm). They also collected information on the women’s infertility status, which was defined as the inability to conceive after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. They adjusted for potential confounding factors, such as age, income, marital status, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
The results showed that the prevalence of infertility increased with higher WC. Women in tertile 3 had a 15.28% prevalence of infertility, compared to 10.56% in tertile 2 and 7.55% in tertile 1. The difference was statistically significant, and the trend was consistent across different subgroups. The researchers also found that for every 1 cm increase in WC, the odds of infertility increased by 2%. This association remained significant after adjusting for body mass index (BMI), which is another common measure of obesity.
The researchers concluded that WC is an independent risk factor for infertility in women, and that it has a stronger association with infertility than BMI. They suggested that WC may reflect the adverse effects of visceral fat on reproductive function, such as insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, and hormonal imbalance. They recommended that WC should be routinely measured and managed in women of reproductive age, especially those who are trying to conceive. They also called for more studies to explore the mechanisms and interventions of WC-related infertility.
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