Cardiometabolic status before IVF
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cardiovascular and metabolic status of women undergoing in-vitro fertilization
IRAS ID
327692
Contact name
Kypros Nicolaides
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College Hosptial NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN00000000
Duration of Study in the UK
8 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cardiovascular (CV) disease remains the leading cause of death among women in UK. Although there has been an overall decline in heart disease mortality for women over the past 40 years, the mortality in younger women has recently plateaued. One reason, which can explain this trend, might be the inadequate or ineffective strategies in women to recognize and modify traditional CV risk factors. Additionally, female unique conditions including pregnancy itself and pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia (PE) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) might affect the onset of CV disease, its clinical course, the efficacy of therapy and ultimately prognosis.
Pregnancy is thought to be a key period in woman’s life that can potentially unravel pre-existing chronic vulnerability to CV disease. Various anatomical, physiological and metabolic changes occur in maternal body to benefit fetal growth. These vigorous physiologic changes may impose substantial “strain” to the maternal cardiovascular system and might not be well tolerated by women who might be at increased cardiovascular risk before pregnancy.
Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate whether maternal cardiometabolic status prior to pregnancy can provide predictive information about the risk of the woman for development of hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SC/0311
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion