(10-07-15) Preconception stress increases risk of infertility

Higher levels of stress as measured by salivary alpha-amylase are associated with a longer time-to-pregnancy (TTP) and an increased risk of infertility, according to the results of a study presented at ESHRE, held in Lisbon in June. 
Researchers at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., in 2005-2009 enrolled 501 couples preconceptionally in a prospective cohort study in Michigan and Texas. Couples were followed for up to 12 months and through pregnancy if it occurred. A total of 401 (80%) couples completed the study and 373 (93%) had complete data available for analysis. Enrolled women collected saliva the morning following enrollment and then the morning following their first observed study menses for the measurement of cortisol and alpha-amylase, which are biomarkers of stress. TTP was measured in cycles. 
The data showed that among the 401 (80%) women who completed the protocol, 347 (87%) became pregnant and 54 (13%) did not. After adjustment for female age, race, income, and use of alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes while trying to conceive, women in the highest tertile of alpha-amylase exhibited a 29% reduction in fecundity (longer TTP) compared with women in the lowest tertile (fecundability odds ratio 0.71; P <0.05). This reduction in fecundity translated into a more than two-fold increased risk of infertility among these women (relative risk 2.07). In contrast, the researchers found no association between salivary cortisol and fecundability. 
“This is the first US study to demonstrate a prospective association between salivary stress biomarkers and TTP,” the researchers concluded, “and the first in the world to observe an association with infertility.”

SOURCE: quotivadis.it

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