Infertility and Lifestyle Among Finnish Men and Women

Abstract Background: The aim of this population-based study is to examine lifestyle factors (smoking and alcohol consumption) and body mass index (BMI) among fertile and infertile Finnish women and men. Methods: Infertility was defined based on reporting having ever tried to become pregnant or to get a child unsuccessfully over a year. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association of smoking, alcohol consumption and BMI with infertility when adjusted first for age and then additionally for marital status, education and employment status. Men (n=201) and women (n=267) who had ever experienced infertility were compared to those with no experience of infertility (n=1677 men and n=1257 women) and further separately for those who had despite the infertility experience received a child or not. Results: No significant differences between smoking or BMI were found in men by the infertility experience, compared to childless infertile and infertile men with a child. However, men with infertility experience had higher total alcohol consumption (g/year) than fertile men (p=0.005). The odds ratio for total consumption of alcohol at an average or high level was 2.49 (95 % CI 1.39-4.45) in the age adjusted model and 2.01 (CI 1.11-3.67) in the fully adjusted model for males who had experienced infertility by using the fertile men as a reference group. No differences in smoking, alcohol consumption or BMI were found between women with or without infertility experience. Conclusions: The results indicate that in fertility counselling and care given by midwifes and health care professionals, attention should be paid to men’s lifestyle, especially to alcohol consumption. The small numbers of those having experienced infertility limited analyses in this study.