Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2013; 73 - P79
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1347851

Lifestyle factors and their influence on time to conceive in women in and around Vienna

K Nouri 1, H Reitner 1, M Rothensteiner 1
  • 1Universitätsklinik für Frauenheilkunde, Medizinische Universität Wien

Fragestellung: Age, weight, smoking, physical activity, daily caffeine intake, alcohol consumption and previous contraception methods – these are some life-style factors that might be decisive when a woman tries to get pregnant. Various studies have tried to find out, how these factors influence a woman's time to conceive. So far these attempts have led to many inconsistent study results, only the impact of age, smoking and weight seems to be confirmed. Our study is a cross-sectional and questionnaire-based investigation aiming to analyse the impact of the above mentioned lifestyle-factors. Anonymous questionnaires will be handed out to primipara (currently being pregnant) in various hospitals in and around Vienna. Our patients should have planned their pregnancy and must not have undergone infertility treatment or experienced a previous miscarriage or abortion.

Our study has its focus on following questions:

  • Does alcohol or caffeine consumption have an impact on female reproductive performance and if so, is this effect dose-dependent or not?

  • Is exercising influencing a woman's time to conceive?

  • Does the contraception method used before deciding to become pregnant have an impact on how long it takes to get pregnant? Is there a difference between the diverse contraception methods?

  • Can we confirm the results of previous studies stating that age, smoking and weight have an impact on time to conceive?

Methodik: Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. The cases will be grouped according to different age and weight groups, smoking habits, alcohol and caffeine consumption, contraception methods and exercising habits. The cases will be analysed by means of interferential statistics (e.g. Chi-squared test, t-test for independent samples, ANOVA, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation). The level of significance will be P < 0,050. The power will be 0,800. Ergebnisse/Schlussfolgerung: The study is on-going at the moment, but preliminary results will be available in time for the congress.