Prioritising for fertility treatments--the effect of excluding women with a high body mass index

Abstract

The effect of clinical priority access criteria for access to infertility treatment was examined for women outside the body mass index (BMI) range of 18-32 kg/m2. Treatments and outcomes were analysed from 1280 cases referred from 1998 to May 2005. Sixteen percent of women had a BMI of >32 kg/m2. Overall, 38% of these women had a birth from conceiving a treatment-related pregnancy or spontaneous pregnancy, compared with 52% of women with BMI < 32 kg/m2. Weight loss allowed women in the BMI group >32<35 kg/m2 to access treatment, but women in higher BMI groups were less successful.