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Women’s alcohol consumption and cumulative incidence of live birth following in vitro fertilization

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of alcohol consumption on outcomes among women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Design

This study is a retrospective cohort study.

Setting

This study was performed in a private academically affiliated IVF center.

Patients

Patients included women presenting for their first IVF cycle from July 2004 through October 2012.

Intervention

Women completed self-administered questionnaires before their first IVF cycle, which included report of usual alcohol consumption. Women were categorized as non-drinkers, social drinkers, or daily drinkers, as well as by the number of drinks consumed per week. Competing risks analysis was used to calculate the cumulative incidence of live birth after 6 cycles stratified by alcohol consumption.

Main outcome measures

Main outcome measures included spontaneous abortion, clinical pregnancy, and live birth following IVF.

Results

There were 591 (27.7%) non-drinkers, 1466 (68.7%) social drinkers, and 77 (3.6%) daily drinkers (total n = 2134). In the first cycle, compared to non-drinkers, daily drinkers had a twofold increased risk of spontaneous abortion (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–4.5) among all cycle starts, and while their risk of live birth was 30% lower (aRR 0.7; 95% CI 0.4–1.3), the sample size was small, and it was not significantly lower. By the end of 6 cycles, social drinkers and daily drinkers did not differ from non-drinkers in their cumulative incidence of live birth (56.1, 50.6, and 52.1%, respectively; both P ≥ 0.28).

Conclusion

There was a trend towards lower risk of live birth among daily drinkers. Daily drinkers had an increased risk of spontaneous abortion in the first cycle, but the number of daily drinkers was small.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., KS 3, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    L. E. Dodge & M. R. Hacker

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    L. E. Dodge, K. L. Thornton & M. R. Hacker

  3. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    S. A. Missmer

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 667 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    S. A. Missmer & M. R. Hacker

  5. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    S. A. Missmer

  6. Boston IVF, 130 Second Ave, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA

    K. L. Thornton

Authors
  1. L. E. Dodge
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  2. S. A. Missmer
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  3. K. L. Thornton
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  4. M. R. Hacker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. R. Hacker.

Ethics declarations

The institutional review board at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center approved this study (#2015P-000047).

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences training grant T32 ES 07069 and the National Institute of Child Health and Development Contraception and Infertility Research Loan Repayment Program, which both supported LED.

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Dodge, L.E., Missmer, S.A., Thornton, K.L. et al. Women’s alcohol consumption and cumulative incidence of live birth following in vitro fertilization. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 877–883 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0923-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0923-5

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