Smoking adds a decade to women's reproductive age

A major new Dutch study has found that smoking adds the equivalent of ten years to a 20-year-old subfertile woman's reproductive age and has a "devastating" impact on a couples' chances of having a live birth after IVF. Being overweight also seriously damages their chances.

Lead researcher Dr Bea Lintsen, from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, said:

"The positive news from our results, however, is that they suggest that couples - in particular, women with unexplained subfertility - may be able to improve the success of IVF treatment by quitting smoking and losing weight."

More than 40% of the women were smokers at the time of undergoing their first attempt at IVF and more than 7% were overweight i.e. had a body mass of 27kg/m2 or more.

"In all subgroups smokers had a lower delivery rate per treatment cycle than non-smokers," Dr Lintsen said. "The live birth rate for smokers was 28% lower than that of non-smokers. This was most marked in women who had no known cause for subfertility where the live birth rate among smokers was only 13% compared to 20% for non-smokers."

The miscarriage rate per pregnancy was also significantly higher for women who smoked, with around 21% losing their babies compared with around 16% of non-smokers.

Professor Didi Braat, one of the co-authors, said: "What our research clearly shows is that both smoking and being overweight unfavourably affect the live birth rate after IVF. Smoking has a devastating impact. It is comparable to adding a decade to the reproductive age of a 20-year-old. This means it makes her the equivalent of a 30-year-old non-smoker in reproductive terms.

"However, it also indicates that subfertile couples may help their chances of successful treatment by life-style changes. As the effects of smoking and overweight were greatest among women with unexplained subfertility, these results suggest that this group in particular may be able to improve the outcome of subfertility treatment by quitting smoking and losing weight."

Source: Daily Mail, Independent, 7 April 2005

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