A. Elnemr et al., EFFECT OF SMOKING ON OVARIAN RESERVE AND OVARIAN STIMULATION IN IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION AND EMBRYO-TRANSFER, Human reproduction (Oxford. Print), 13(8), 1998, pp. 2192-2198
The effect of cigarette smoking on ovarian reserve as measured by basa
l serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations, and by the
response to a standard ovarian stimulation protocol, was examined retr
ospectively in 173 consecutive women (108 non-smokers and 65 smokers)
undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer treatment.
Women who smoked had a higher mean basal serum FSH concentration (P l
ess than or equal to 0.0001), in particular younger (<36 years) women,
and required a statistically significantly higher mean dosage of gona
dotrophins for ovarian stimulation than the non-smokers (48.1 +/- 15.6
versus 38.9 +/- 13.6 ampoules, 75 IU/ampoule; P < 0.0001), A lower me
an number of oocytes was obtained in smokers than non-smokers (6.2 +/-
3.4 versus 11.1 +/- 6.3, oocytes P less than or equal to 0.0001) and
the rate of abandoned cycles (18.5 versus 8.5%) and total fertilizatio
n failure (18.5 versus 8.5%) was higher. The clinical pregnancy rate p
er cycle in smokers was 16.9% versus 21.3% in non-smokers but this was
not statistically significant. In conclusion, cigarette smoking in wo
men appears to significantly reduce their ovarian reserve and lead to
poor response to ovarian stimulation at an earlier age.