Biochemical profile of infertile women in Côte d’Ivoire

AUTORI

ABSTRACT

Today about 15% of French couples seek help for fertility problems. Prolonged education, development, and successful professional careers have pushed up the average age of first pregnancy. However, fertility and reproductive potential of women gradually decrease with age, due to the decline in ovarian reserve. This decrease is constant until the age of 37 years and then accelerates until menopause. A clinical and biological assessment is necessary for women who are consulting for maternity desire to decide the therapeutic approach for an assisted reproduction
technology. In Côte d’Ivoire there are insufficient or even unavailable data concerning this aspect; hence, the objective of this study was to describe the biochemical profile of women consulting for motherhood desire. 304 women were retrospectively studied in the fertility center of Abidjan from January 2009 to August 2011. Each subject was submitted to an ultrasound examination for antral follicles count (AFC) on day 3 of menstruation (D3) and, at the same time, blood was drawn to measure concentrations of follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2),
and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH). The average age of subjects was 35 years (range, 19 to 47). Clinical records showed that 4.1% of patients undergone therapy for fallopian tube obstruction, 13.8% had male partners having poor semen quality, and 82.1% had ovarian failure. The average concentrations of AMH, FSH, LH, and E2 were predictive of an adequate capital follicle and/or a good ovarian reserve. On the other hand, average AFC predicted the presence of an ovarian failure. Our study shows that women who consult for maternity desire usually present an ovarian failure characterized by a lower AFC.

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