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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
Z-Scores for Assessing Ovarian Reserve in Young Patients Undergoing Fertility Preservation
Published on: October 25, 2024
Urinary benzophenone-3 concentrations and ovarian reserve in a cohort of subfertile women
Emily L Silva1, Lidia Mínguez-Alarcón2, Brent Coull3
1Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Objective:
To evaluate the association between the urinary benzophenone-3 concentrations and measures of ovarian reserve (OR) among women in the Environment and Reproductive Health study seeking fertility treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts.
Design:
Prospective cohort study.
Setting:
MGH infertility clinic in Boston, Massachusetts.
Patient(S):
Women in the Environment and Reproductive Health cohort seeking fertility treatment.
Intervention(S):
Women contributed spot urine samples prior to assessment of OR outcomes that were analyzed for benzophenone-3 concentrations.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Antral follicle count (AFC) and day 3 follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were evaluated as part of standard infertility workups during unstimulated menstrual cycles. Quasi-Poisson and linear regression models were used to evaluate the association of the specific gravity-adjusted urinary benzophenone-3 concentrations with AFC and FSH, with adjustment for age and physical activity. In the secondary analyses, models were stratified by age.
Result(S):
This study included 142 women (mean age ± standard deviation, 36.1 ± 4.6 years; range, 22-45 years) enrolled between 2009 and 2017 with both urinary benzophenone-3 and AFC measurements and 57 women with benzophenone-3 and FSH measurements. Most women were White (78%) and highly educated (49% with a graduate degree). Women contributed a mean of 2.7 urine samples (range, 1-10), with 37% contributing ≥2 samples. Benzophenone-3 was detected in 98% of samples. The geometric mean specific gravity-corrected urinary benzophenone-3 concentration was 85.9 μg/L (geometric standard deviation, 6.2). There were no associations of benzophenone-3 with AFC and day 3 FSH in the full cohort. In stratified models, a 1-unit increase in the log geometric mean benzophenone-3 concentration was associated with a 0.91 (95% confidence interval, 0.86-0.97) times lower AFC among women aged ≤35 years and an increase in the FSH concentration of 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.12-1.34) IU/L among women aged >35 years.
Conclusion(S):
In the main models, urinary benzophenone-3 was not associated with OR. However, younger patients may be vulnerable to the potential effects of benzophenone-3 on AFC. Further research is warranted.
