Obesity Raises Risk of Miscarriage

Obesity and women’s fertility are strongly related, as any woman with PCOS could tell you. You can add this new study from the UK to a growing list of studies which suggest a linkage between women’s body weight their ability to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term:

Overweight women undergoing fertility treatment have double the risk of miscarriage of normal weight women, a UK study says.

More than a third of overweight and obese women had a miscarriage compared with one in five of normal weight women, a fertility conference heard.
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All the women had been implanted with a single five-day-old embryo that had been fertilised in the laboratory.

Half of them had a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25, which is classed as overweight. Fourteen per cent had a BMI of 30 or more, which is classed as clinically obese.

The researchers said there was no difference in egg or embryo quality at the start of the procedure, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference heard.

Yet in women with a BMI of over 25 there was a 35% miscarriage rate.

This compared with 21% in women with a BMI less than 25.

This shows there are some things we can do to improve our fertility without the help of doctors.