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Prevalence of lifetime eating disorders in infertile women seeking pregnancy with pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone therapy

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Relationships between weight and fertility are well known. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of lifetime eating disorder (ED) in a sample of infertile women seeking a specific infertility treatment, pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (pGnRH) treatment, and to compare it to the prevalence of lifetime ED in a sample of infertile women seeking other types of assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments.

Design

Non-randomized, observational study including infertile female patients. Two-group design including consecutive women treated with GnRH pump (pGnRH) or with other types of ART.

Setting

Multi-centric infertility centers, France

Methods

Twenty one consecutive women treated with pGnRH treatment were compared to 21 consecutive women receiving other types of infertility treatment. Diagnosis of ED was based on DSM-IV and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

Results

Twenty patients (95.2%) from the sample of women treated with pulsatile GnRH treatment and 5 patients (23.8%) from the patients receiving other types of infertility treatment met the criteria of lifetime ED diagnosis (p < 0.000).

Conclusion

This study highlights the fact that the prevalence of ED is considerably higher in women receiving GnRH pulsatile treatment, when compared to women receiving other kinds of infertility treatment. In our study population ED were under-diagnosed, particularly in women receiving pulsatile GnRH treatment. Fertility clinicians should use reliable diagnostic tools to identify promptly ED in women presenting with hypothalamic amenorrhea and difficulties in conceiving.

Level III: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychologist, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France

    Irema Barbosa-Magalhaes

  2. Department of Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France

    Maurice Corcos, Isabelle Nicolas & Claire Lamas

  3. Paris Descartes University, Paris, France

    Maurice Corcos

  4. Department of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France

    Julie Galey & Simone Perdigao-Cotta

  5. Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Pourtales Hospital, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Chrysoula Papastathi

  6. 120, avenue Gabriel-Péri, 91700, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France

    Marie de Crecy

  7. Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Reproductive Endocrinology, Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France

    Sophie Christin-Maître

  8. Sorbonne University, Paris, France

    Sophie Christin-Maître

  9. CPOA Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris, France

    Alexandra Pham-Scottez

Authors
  1. Irema Barbosa-Magalhaes
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  2. Maurice Corcos
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  3. Julie Galey
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  7. Isabelle Nicolas
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  8. Claire Lamas
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  9. Sophie Christin-Maître
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Irema Barbosa-Magalhaes.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in this study. This research was conducted by the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, registered with the ID number 2013-BCR A00338-37 at the Agence Nationale de Securité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM) and received a legal approval from the committee of patient’s protection (CPP) IDF-III on 5th June 2013. This research was supervised by the Clinical Research Direction (DRC) of the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris.

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Barbosa-Magalhaes, I., Corcos, M., Galey, J. et al. Prevalence of lifetime eating disorders in infertile women seeking pregnancy with pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone therapy. Eat Weight Disord 26, 709–715 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00893-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00893-9

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