Frontiers in Endocrinology (Feb 2024)

Normal weight obesity is associated with lower AFC and adverse IVF outcomes

  • Yangcheng Yao,
  • Yangcheng Yao,
  • Wenjuan Liu,
  • Xiqian Zhang,
  • Nianjun Su,
  • Li Huang,
  • Yingqi Nong,
  • Xiaomin Xiao,
  • Fenghua Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2024.1332995
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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BackgroundBody weight could be classified into underweight, normal weight and overweight according to percentage of body fat (%BF), and normal weight obesity (NWO) is defined as a normal BMI but a high %BF. While the impact of NWO in women fecundity remain unknow. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the associations between %BF and reproductive outcomes among in vitro fertilization (IVF) women with normal BMI.MethodsA total of 469 women were included in this study and were classified into low %BF, normal %BF and high %BF according to previous study. Multivariate generalized regression models were employed to evaluate the associations of %BF with ovarian reserve parameters, IVF outcomes and early pregnancy outcomes. We further run sensitivity analyses by restricted the analysis to young women and those only with tubal factor, respectively.ResultsAbout 32.2% of normal BMI women were misclassified according %BF, with 16.4% of them were low %BF and 15.8% were high %BF. The high %BF group had significantly lower antral follicle count (AFC) than normal %BF groups, and the AFC showed a tendency of decrease as %BF increased. In sensitivity analysis in young women, high %BF group also had significantly lower number of good-quality embryos when compared to normal %BF groups. The results expanded to all IVF outcomes when analysis restricted to tubal factor women.ConclusionIn summary, misclassifications of body weight status based on BMI are common according to %BF, and NWO is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes.

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