Association between a body shape index and female infertility: a cross-sectional study

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Health
• Anthropometry
• Public Health

Background:

• The association between A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and female infertility remains unclear.
• ABSI is a newer metric for assessing visceral fat, potentially more accurate than Body Mass Index (BMI).
• Understanding this relationship can inform medical screening and risk assessment strategies for infertility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between ABSI and female infertility.
• To explore potential nonlinear relationships using restricted cubic splines (RCS).
• To assess the consistency of findings across different demographic and health subgroups.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of NHANES data (2013-2020) involving 3,718 participants.
• Female infertility assessed via reproductive health questionnaires; ABSI calculated from waist circumference, BMI, and height.
• Weighted logistic regression, trend tests, RCS, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses were employed.

Main Results:

• A higher ABSI was significantly associated with an increased risk of female infertility (OR=1.56).
• The highest ABSI quartile showed a higher infertility prevalence (OR=1.73) compared to the lowest.
• A linear positive relationship was observed between ABSI and infertility risk, with a critical value at 0.079.

Conclusions:

• A positive linear association exists between ABSI and the risk of female infertility.
• ABSI offers a simple, non-invasive tool for early identification of women at high risk for infertility.
• This metric can potentially aid in the prevention and reduction of infertility incidence through large-scale screenings.