Retinal microvasculature and time to pregnancy in a multi-ethnic pre-conception cohort in Singapore

AbstractSTUDY QUESTIONCan abnormalities in retinal microvasculature representing adverse microcirculatory perfusion and inflammation shed light on the pathophysiology of female fecundability?SUMMARY ANSWERIn our prospective study, abnormalities in retinal vascular geometric morphology (i.e. sparser arteriolar fractal and larger venular bifurcation) during pre-conception phase are temporarily associated with a prolonged time-to-pregnancy (TTP).WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADYSuboptimal retinal microcirculatory morphology has been associated with obesity, psychological stress and hypertension, all of which are known risk factors for reduced female fecundability.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONA total of 652 women of Chinese, Malay or Indian ethnicity 18 –45 years of age and planning to conceive spontaneously within the next 12 months were recruited during the pre-conception period into the Singapore PREconception Study of long-Term maternal and child Outcomes (S-PRESTO), from February 2015 to October 2017.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSDuring recruitment, we collected information on socio-demographic factors, menstrual characteristics and lifestyle behaviors and made anthropometric measurements. We assessed the following retinal microvascular features: caliber, branching angle and fractal dimension. We conducted follow-up telephone surveys to track each participant ’s pregnancy status at 6, 9 and 12 months after enrolment. We ascertained clinical pregnancies via ultrasonography, ...
Source: Human Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research