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Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Ppublish 4 citations

PubMed: 35104260 DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001451

Inflammation and Conception in a Prospective Time-to-Pregnancy Cohort.

Epidemiology 33(2):269-277

Authors: Anne Marie Z Jukic, Clarice R Weinberg, Sunni L Mumford, Anne Z Steiner

Affiliations

  • From the Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC.
  • Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC.
  • Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD.
  • Duke University, Durham, NC.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Inflammation may contribute to subfertility but this has not been well-explored in large prospective cohort studies.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective 12-month cohort study of time to pregnancy in North Carolina, the Time to Conceive study (2010-2016). Participants were 30-44 years old, without a history of infertility (N = 727). We analyzed blood samples with a high sensitivity assay for C-reactive protein (CRP). Women reported their weight, height, and other covariates. We natural log-transformed CRP and examined it (1) linearly, after exploration using restricted cubic splines and (2) in categories based on American Heart Association criteria. We estimated fecundability ratios (FRs) with log-binomial discrete-time-to-pregnancy models. Separate models included an interaction term with body mass index (BMI).

RESULTS

The adjusted estimated FR per natural log-unit increase in CRP level was 0.97 (confidence interval [CI] = 0.91, 1.0). The FR (CI) for high CRP (>10 mg/L) compared with low CRP (<1 mg/L) was 0.78 (0.52, 1.2). Compared with normal-weight women with low CRP, women with obesity and high CRP had lower estimated fecundability, but the confidence interval was wide (FR = 0.63; CI = 0.35, 1.1). There was no pattern in the estimated fecundability across levels of CRP within categories of BMI.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no evidence of an association between CRP and fecundability either alone or within levels of BMI. Further studies of CRP and fecundability should include higher levels of CRP and additional markers of inflammation.

MeSH

Pregnancy, Time-To-Pregnancy, Confidence Intervals, Epidemiology, Fertility, Cohort Studies

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