Hair Cortisol Concentrations as a Biomarker to Predict a Clinical Pregnancy Outcome after an IVF Cycle: A Pilot Feasibility Study
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Caparrós González, Rafael Arcángel; Romero González, Borja; Peralta Ramírez, María Isabel; González Pérez, Raquel; García Velasco, Juan AntonioEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Infertility Pregnancy Cortisol Stress
Date
2020-04Referencia bibliográfica
C Santa-Cruz, D., Caparros-Gonzalez, R. A., Romero-Gonzalez, B., Peralta-Ramirez, M. I., Gonzalez-Perez, R., & García-Velasco, J. A. (2020). Hair Cortisol Concentrations as a Biomarker to Predict a Clinical Pregnancy Outcome after an IVF Cycle: A Pilot Feasibility Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9), 3020. [doi:10.3390/ijerph17093020]
Sponsorship
This study is part of a doctoral thesis, with funds for an I+D project from IVI Foundation/IVI-RMA Innovation, reference number 1405-MAD-027-DS.Abstract
Our objective was to examine the feasibility of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) as
a biomarker to predict clinical pregnancy outcomes and investigate its potential associations with
perceived anxiety, resilience, and depressive symptoms. A total of 43 participants were assessed
using HCC, the state trait anxiety inventory (STAI), resilience scale (RS), and the depression subscale
of the symptom checklist 90-R (SCL-90-R). Participants were approached at their second consultation
with the reproductive endocrinologist (T1), before scheduling their IVF cycle, and then 12 weeks after
(T2), at their post-transfer visit with the study coordinators, before the human chorionic gonadotropin
(HCG) pregnancy test. The logistic regression model revealed that HCC at T2 predicted 46% of
a positive pregnancy test [R2 = 0.46, (ß = 0.11, p < 0.05)]. Pregnant women had higher levels of
resilience at T2 (M = 149.29; SD = 17.56) when compared with non-pregnant women at T2 (M = 119.96;
SD = 21.71). Significant differences were found between both groups in depression at T2 (t = 3.13,
p = 0.01) and resilience at T2 (t = −4.89, p = 0.01). HCC might be a promising biomarker to calculate
the probability of pregnancy in women using assisted reproductive technologies (ART).