Infertility is a growing concern, imposing both societal and economic challenges. Despite various preventive efforts, there is still limited progress in addressing this issue. Recent studies have started focusing on the connection between gut microbiota and infertility, highlighting a potential factor in reproductive health.
A new index, the Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota (DI-GM), measures the diversity of gut microbiota, but its impact on female infertility has remained unclear until now.
This cross-sectional study, using data from 3,053 women aged 18-45 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database between 2013 and 2018, examined the potential relationship between DI-GM and infertility. Infertility was assessed based on responses to a questionnaire about reproductive health, while DI-GM scores were calculated from two 24-hour dietary recall interviews.
The study’s findings revealed that 12.12% of participants (370 women) reported infertility. A clear trend emerged, showing that women with lower DI-GM scores were more likely to experience infertility. Multivariable logistic regression analysis, which controlled for various factors, showed a significant negative correlation between DI-GM and the risk of infertility. The data indicated that women with higher DI-GM scores had a lower likelihood of infertility. Specifically, the odds ratio for continuous variables was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.80-0.98), and for the highest quartile compared to the lowest, the odds ratio was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.42-0.94). These results were further supported by restricted cubic splines (RCS) analysis, showing a non-linear relationship between DI-GM scores and infertility risk.
Subgroup analyses confirmed the reliability of these findings, reinforcing the significance of DI-GM in reproductive health.
In conclusion, the study suggests that a lower DI-GM score is associated with a higher risk of infertility in women, emphasizing the importance of gut microbiota diversity in maintaining reproductive health.
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