Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components in Young Adults Conceived by ICSI

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) conception presents the early embryo with a radically different environment, which may lead to permanent alterations to key cardiometabolic processes. Blood pressure, indicators of insulin resistance, and lipid profiles have previously been studied in offspring born after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and ICSI, with conflicting findings. Also, results in young adults born after ICSI are lacking.

We investigated if young adult men and women conceived by ICSI more frequently have metabolic syndrome and its individual features in comparison to spontaneously conceived controls.

Cardiometabolic and anthropometric parameters from 126 longitudinally followed young adults conceived by ICSI were compared to those of 133 controls.

At age 18 years, only 1 of the participants displayed the metabolic syndrome (1 control woman). Mean concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, HOMA-IR, and blood pressure were comparable between the ICSI conceived and control participants. A higher proportion (19.6%) of men conceived by ICSI had low (<40 mg/dl) HDL cholesterol compared to controls (5.6%).

While men conceived by ICSI, but not women, had lower mean HDL cholesterol concentrations in comparison to controls, other markers of the metabolic syndrome were not affected by the mode of conception.