Does obesity reduce chance of getting pregnant with donor egg?

According to a new study conducted by Washington University of Medicine, women who use donor eggs to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF), those who are obese are just as likely to become pregnant as normal weight women. The study showed that these complications are restricted to women trying to conceive naturally. Obesity doesn't significantly affect women trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

However, the women are advised to reduce weight before pregnancy in any type of conception, including ovum donation. Being obese during pregnancy can have a major impact on your health and your baby's health. The best way to protect your health and your baby's wellbeing is to lose weight before you become pregnant. By reaching a healthy weight, you increase your chances of conceiving naturally and reduce your risk of the problems associated with being overweight in pregnancy.

Obesity is not an influential factor when it comes to analyzing the differences in the rates of miscarriages or live births among obese women who use donor eggs. Investigators aren’t sure whether the quality of a woman’s eggs or her uterus is most affected by obesity. As a result, several studies have focused on donor egg recipients to provide some clues.

Many IVF programs have arbitrary body mass index (BMI) restrictions that help them determine whether women can receive treatment. These cutoffs need to be re-examined.

In this analysis, obesity (defined as a BMI over 30) was not associated with a difference in pregnancy rates when compared with pregnancy rates in women with a normal BMI. The data from this study also indicates that obesity was not associated with differences in the rates of miscarriage or live birth among obese women who used donor eggs, when compared with women of normal weight. However, live births and miscarriages were not reported in all of the studies.

Previous studies have stated that obesity reduces chances of spontaneous pregnancy in women. Even if an obese woman gets pregnant, there are high possibilities of her suffering complications. Obesity was not found to be associated with differences in the rates of miscarriage or live birth among obese women who used donor eggs, when compared with women of normal weight.

However, reproductive outcome has affected female obesity. An analysis egg donation treatment shows that female obesity reduced the receptivity of uterus of embryo implantation and thereby compromises reproductive outcome.  

If you are very overweight and you are pregnant, don't try to lose weight during your pregnancy as this may not be safe. Although there are risks associated with being obese during pregnancy, there is no evidence that losing weight while you're pregnant will reduce these risks.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani