Sharma, R., Biedenharn, K. R., Fedor, J. M., & Agarwal, A. (2013). Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility. Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-11-66
Sharma R, Biedenharn KR, Fedor JM, Agarwal A. Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility. Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E. 2013. doi:10.1186/1477-7827-11-66
Sharma, Rakesh, et al. "Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility." Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E, 2013.
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Smoking, weight, age and stress are linked to fertility in couples
Smoking, weight, age and stress are linked to fertility in both partners, a 2013 review of published studies reports. It addresses men and women. The authors examined more than a dozen habits, from diet and exercise to alcohol and chemicals at work.
9 in 10 women with obesity who had stopped ovulating began ovulating after losing weight. Source: Sharma R et al., 2013, PMID 23870423.Study at a glance, literature review: Smoking, weight, age and stress are linked to fertility in both partners. Source: Sharma R et al., 2013, PMID 23870423.
Key Findings
The review reports that a woman's chance of conceiving may be as high as 71% under age 30 and as low as 41% over age 36.
Augood et al. found that women who smoked had higher odds of infertility than non-smokers (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.34-1.91).
Clark et al. found that 90% of obese women who had stopped ovulating began ovulating after losing an average of 10.2 kg.
Boots and Stephenson's systematic review found miscarriage in 10.7% of women with normal BMI and 13.6% of obese women (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.18-1.46).
A Cochrane review of 34 studies found higher live birth rates in men taking oral antioxidants than in controls (OR 4.85; CI 1.92-12.24; n = 214).
Interpretation
This is a literature review. The authors searched Medline and pulled together findings from many published studies on how lifestyle touches fertility in men and women. Smoking, weight, age and stress each show up with their own body of evidence, from large cohort studies to Cochrane reviews. The authors note that stress is harder to pin down than the others: stress measures are subjective and no single method for measuring it has been agreed on. The breadth of this review supports further study of how lifestyle changes could be built into fertility care for couples.
RRM Context
The review examines men and women together. Restorative reproductive medicine takes the same couple-level view. One study it cites found women on the pill conceived sooner than women who used no birth control. Suppressive medications hide symptoms while a woman takes them. Restorative clinicians search for the cause of delayed conception. Lifestyle is one part of that search.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Approximately 10 to 15% of couples are impacted by infertility. Recently, the pivotal role that lifestyle factors play in the development of infertility has generated a considerable amount of interest. Lifestyle factors are the modifiable habits and ways of life that can greatly influence overall health and well-being, including fertility. Many lifestyle factors such as the age at which to start a family, nutrition, weight, exercise, psychological stress, environmental and occupational exposures, and others can have substantial effects on fertility; lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking, illicit drug use, and alcohol and caffeine consumption can negatively influence fertility while others such as preventative care may be beneficial. The present literature review encompasses multiple lifestyle factors and places infertility in context for the couple by focusing on both males and females; it aims to identify the roles that lifestyle factors play in determining reproductive status. The growing interest and amount of research in this field have made it evident that lifestyle factors have a significant impact on fertility.
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