RUBIC (ReproUnion Biobank and Infertility Cohort): A binational clinical foundation to study risk factors, life course, and treatment of infertility and infertility‐related morbidity

Abstract

Background: Infertility affects 15%-25% of all couples during their reproductive life span. It is a significant societal and public health problem with potential psychological, social, and economic consequences. Furthermore, infertility has been linked to adverse long-term health outcomes. Despite the advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques available, approximately 30% of infertile couples do not obtain a live birth after fertility treatment. For these couples, there are no further options to increase their chances of a successful pregnancy and live birth.Objectives: Three overall questions will be studied: ( 1) What are the risk factors and natural life courses of infertility, early embryonic loss, and adverse pregnancy outcomes? (2) Can we develop new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for fecundity and treatment success? And (3) what are the health characteristics of women and men in infertile couples at the time of fertility treatment and during long-term follow-up? Material and Methods: ReproUnion Biobank and Infertility Cohort (RUBIC) is established as an add-on to the routine fertility management at Copenhagen University Hospital Departments in the Capital Region of Denmark and Reproductive Medicine Centre at Skåne University Hospital in Sweden. The aim is to include a total of 5000 couples equally distributed between Denmark and Sweden. The first patients were enrolled in June 2020. All eligible infertile couples are prospectively asked to participate in the project. Participants complete an extensive questionnaire and undergo a physi-cal examination and collection of biospecimens (blood, urine, hair, saliva, rectal swabs, feces, semen, endometrial biopsies, and vaginal swabs). After the cohort is established, the couples will be linked to the Danish and Swedish national registers to obtain information on parental, perinatal, childhood, and adult life histories, including disease and medication history. This will enable us to understand the causes of infertility and identify novel therapeutic options for this important societal problem.

Triglycerides/Glucose Index Is Associated with Sperm Parameters and Sperm DNA Fragmentation in Primary Infertile Men: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…A major limitation of HOMA-IR is that insulin testing is a hard-to-reach and scarce test, especially in low-income populations, and is limited in terms of reproducibility [16]. In this context, the TyG index, based on fasting glucose and triglyceride values, which are low cost and easily accessible biochemistry tests [39,40], has been introduced as an alternative marker of IR. Several studies have shown a positive correlation between HOMA-IR and the TyG index [22] in clinical practice and, of note, some reports have shown that the TyG index is an even better diagnostic tool for IR than the HOMA score in selected patients [16,41,42].…”

ANDRONET: A new European network to boost research coordination, education and public awareness in andrology

“…The expertise in various basic and clinical aspects does exist but collaborative projects are usually limited to a few groups or countries. Two good examples are the previously European Union (EU)‐supported European Male Health Study (EMAS) 9 or the currently active ReproUnion Consortium 10 . Several collaborative studies in the frame of the International Male Infertility Genomics Consortium (http://www.imigc.org) testify the importance of joining forces in our field.…”

ANDRONET: A new European network to boost research coordination, education and public awareness in andrology

“…Two good examples are the previously European Union (EU)-supported European Male Health Study (EMAS) 9 or the currently active ReproUnion Consortium. 10 dedicated primarily to couple infertility. However, in most of the European countries, language-specific educational materials for the general public are fragmented or largely missing, and filling this gap will be one of the goals of ANDRONET.…”