Chicago-area Infertility Specialist Richard Sherbahn, MD, Reports a Woman's Body Mass Index Affects Her Success in Infertility ...( Research by ...),Health

Research by board-certified reproductive endocrinologist Richard Sherbahn, MD, at the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago reveals that women with a higher body mass index have more eggs retrieved -- but not a correspondingly higher rate of success -- with in-vitro fertilization.

Gurnee, Ill. (PRWeb) May 14, 2009 -- Infertility specialist Richard Sherbahn, MD, and embryologist Ellen Gibbons recently presented research to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine regarding the influence of a woman's body mass index on her chances of success with infertility treatment.

Dr. Sherbahn and Gibbons conducted a retrospective study of 1,150 in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles in women under age 40, using their own eggs, from January 2003 through July 2007.

The cases were divided into two groups according to their body mass index (BMI). One group consisted of women with a BMI of 30 or above -- considered obese. Women in the other group had a BMI under 30. (Normal BMI is 18.5 - 24.9, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

IVF patients who had four or more good-quality embryos three days after fertilization had their embryos cultured in the lab for uterine transfer on day five. The researchers compared the two BMI groups' average antral follicle count (a predictor of the total number of eggs remaining in a woman's ovaries).

They also compared the number of eggs retrieved, rate of embryo implantation, clinical pregnancy rate, '/>"/>