This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.
We are convinced that stress may be a factor in reproductive success. This study confirms that reducing stress can help womrn conceive with IVF.
Fifty women were randomized to Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI) or no treatment before IVF. Higher perceived stress correlated negatively with the pregnancy rate. The CBI group experienced decreased perceived stress. Only women who practiced CBI had increased pregnancy rates. Mean serum cortisol (stress hormone) was higher in the women who did not become pregnant and decreased with CBI.
Organized CBI programs include Mind-Body programs and some programs through the infertility support group, RESOLVE.