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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It may take longer for a couple to conceive if both the man and woman are overweight or obese.
A new study from Denmark looked at 47,835 Danish couples between 1996 and 2002. Results reveal if both partners are obese the chances of having to wait for more than a year before the woman gets pregnant are nearly three-times higher than for a normal weight couple. And if both partners are overweight, the chances of waiting longer than a year are 1.4-times higher.
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Previous research has shown weight can affect men and women individually. But this is the first study to look at how being overweight and obese affects couples.
Researchers also looked at couples in which the woman had more than one pregnancy and had a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 or more. They found on average every kilogram gained in weight added an extra 2.84 days to the waiting time. And if a woman was overweight or obese before her first pregnancy (BMI of 25 or above) and either lost weight or maintained the same weight until the next pregnancy, every kilogram she lost reduced the waiting time to pregnancy by an average of 5.5 days.
"These findings indicate a causal association between BMI and fertility," says researcher Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen. "In addition, for underweight women in this group, we saw a tendency for the time to pregnancy to decrease if the women gained weight, when compared to the first pregnancy. This is in line with earlier studies that show being underweight can adversely affect a woman's fertility."
Researchers warn there could be a serious health problem if more research supports these findings and the obesity epidemic continues.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Human Reproduction, 2007;23
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