Association of overweight and obesity with cumulative live birth rates according to women's age: A cohort study of 26 567 treatment cycles

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of age on the association between maternal body mass index (BMI) and cumulative live birth rates (CLBRs) following in vitro fertilization treatment.MethodWe retrospectively analyzed the data of 26 567 women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection from 2016 to 2019. We conducted multivariate regression analysis of the association between CLBRs and maternal BMI and age category.ResultsA total of 16 626 (62.58%) patients achieved a live birth. Women with obesity had significantly decreased CLBRs compared with women who had normal weight (odds ratio [OR] 0.73 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.66–0.80]). The significant interaction between age and BMI suggested that the impact of BMI on CLBRs was moderated by women's age (P interaction <0.001). The association between obesity and CLBRs was inverse among women aged <30 years (OR, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.54–0.73]), 30 to 34 years (OR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.67–0.93]), and 35 to 37 years (OR, 0.71 [95% CI, 0.52–0.98]); however, decreases in CLBRs with obesity were not observed in women aged 38 to 40 years (OR, 1.17 [95% CI, 0.70–1.94]) and ≥ 41 years (OR, 1.25 [95% CI, 0.53–2.96]).ConclusionMaternal obesity was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of having a live birth, but the risk differed according to women's age. A higher BMI might have a less‐pronounced detrimental effect with increasing age.