Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) in Latin America and its consequences on treatment outcomes.
Methods: We used the Latin American Registry of ART to obtain women's age and body mass index (BMI), cancellation rate, number of oocytes retrieved and embryos transferred, clinical pregnancy, live birth and miscarriage rates from 107.313 patients undergoing autologous IVF and ICSI during four years; a multivariable analysis was performed to determine the effect of BMI on cancellation, oocytes retrieved, pregnancy, live birth and miscarriage, adjusting for age, number of embryos transferred and embryo developmental stage upon embryo transfer, when appropriate.
Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 16.1% and 42.4%, respectively; correcting for age of female partner, overweight and obesity were associated to an increase in the odds of cancellation and to a lower mean number of oocytes retrieved; after adjusting for age, number of embryos transferred and stage of embryo development at transfer, we found that the BMI category was not associated to a change in the likelihoods of pregnancy, live birth and miscarriage.
Conclusions: The prevalence of obesity among women seeking ART in Latin America is surprisingly high; however, BMI does not influence the outcome of ART performed in these women.
Keywords: ART; BMI; clinical pregnancy; live birth; miscarriage; obesity.