Female infertility caused by low weight in infancy?

While many couples looking to conceive try to find a cause for their infertility, we know that many factors affecting infertility are outside your control. One is a woman’s size and birth weight during her own infancy. If you’re looking to determine causes of infertility, contact the Viera Fertility Center today.

The British Medical Journal published findings that girls born unexpectedly small or underweight seem to be twice as likely to have fertility problems in adulthood as girls of normal size at birth, suggests new research. Analysis of the data showed that women with fertility problems attributable to a female factor, were almost 2.5 times as likely to have been underweight at birth as those in whom the cause of infertility was attributable to a male factor or unexplained.

While low birth weight was not in a leading factor, it did seem to contribute to the possibility that a woman might later develop infertility. “As medical research and care advances, more infants will be born [with low birthweight or small size] and survive, which in turn might influence future need of infertility treatment,” the authors conclude.

Reference:

BMJ-British Medical Journal. (2014, March 10). Girls born small or underweight twice as likely to be infertile in adulthood. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 26, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140310210634.htm