Specific lifestyle factors and in vitro fertilization outcomes in Romanian women: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Infertility is an important health concern worldwide. Although lifestyle habits and behaviors have been widely reported as predictors of IVF outcomes by previous studies, they have not been reported for Romanian women undergoing IVF. In this regard, our pilot study aimed to begin to address the data gap by assessing lifestyle predictors of in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in Romanian women. STUDY DESIGN: Our pilot study included 35 participants who completed a first IVF cycle at a single infertility center. We evaluated individual self-reported lifestyle habits and behaviors as predictors of IVF outcomes, and employed principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize multiple lifestyle habits and behaviors into personal care product (PCP) use, and healthy diet and physical activity patterns as predictors of IVF outcomes. RESULTS: Our PCA analysis showed that greater use of PCPs was associated with lower probabilities of pregnancy (RR: 0.92, 95% CI [0.87–0.98]) and live birth (RR: 0.94, 95% CI [0.88–1.01]) while, the healthy dietary habits and physical activity were associated with a higher likelihood of pregnancy, although without statistical significance (RR: 1.10, 95% CI [0.93–1.30]). CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study we identified associations between IVF outcomes among Romanian women and certain lifestyle habits and behaviors including stress, diet and physical activity, and certain PCP use. We also estimated the joint effects of multiple lifestyle factors using PCA and found that PCP use, healthy dietary habits and physical activity were associated with IVF outcomes.