Correlation Among Obesity, Oocyte Characteristics, Embryo Characteristics and Maternal Plasma Folate Level in a Sample of Iraqi Women Undergoing Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

Abstract

The effect of maternal body mass index (BMI) on fertility outcomes in women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles has been extensively evaluated and the results of these studies have shown a lot of controversial issues. Folate is a naturally occurring type of vitamin B9 crucial for reproductive health. 65 infertile couples were subjected to intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. Both primary and secondary types of infertility were involved, with different causes. The mean plasma folate of all infertile women was 12.71±6.52, with pregnant 11.60±5.57 and non-pregnant 11.74±8.80; with no significant difference in mean plasma folate between them. Moreover, the means of follicular fluid folate of all infertile women, pregnant women, and non-pregnant women were 8.00±5.39, 7.84±4.68, and 8.39±6.19 respectively. There was no significant statistical difference in mean follicular fluid folate between pregnant and non-pregnant women (p=0.719). Also, both plasma folate and follicular fluid folate were not significantly correlated to oocyte and embryo characteristics. Although plasma folate was higher in obese than normal and overweight women, the difference did not reach statistical significance. It appears that the correlation among maternal BMI, folate level and fertility outcomes in women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles are still controversial and much research work is needed to figure out such complex interaction among these variables.

Association between ICSI cycle outcome and response in women with infertility

“…In contrast to the results of Hassan et al's 2020 study, better results were published, with an overall prevalence of pregnancy after ICSI of 32.3%[8]. In other studies, 33 patients out…”

“…According to a study published in 2020 by Hassan et al, there is no difference in total oocytes, aberrant oocytes, germinal vesicle oocytes, MII, or MI oocytes between pregnant and non-pregnant women (p>0.05). Furthermore, there was no discernible difference in the percentage of grade I, II, III, IV, as well as selected embryos between pregnant and non-pregnant women after ICSI (p>0.05) [8].…”