As a result of temporary social trends, many women elect to postpone their first pregnancy to a later stage in life. A large part of this population will be infertile by the time they opt to conceive, mainly because of a decreasing ovarian reserve and low oocyte quality resulting from age. Aging oocytes have been widely suggested to be the major cause for the decline in fertility. In a subfertile population, the availability of an accurate screening test of ovarian reserve would provide a valuable means of predicting the chances of pregnancy and live birth with or without treatment and selecting an optimal dose of ovarian stimulation where treatment using ovarian stimulation is planned. The following hormonal markers and ultrasound parameters have been used to attempt to estimate ovarian reserve and predict those with a poor chance of success in assisted reproductive techniques: age; concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol, inhibin, anti-Müllerian hormone; ovarian volume, ovarian antral follicle count; and ovarian biopsy. Further studies have introduced the use of dynamic tests-using gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, FSH, or clomiphene citrate-to assess ovarian function. The use of a wide range of tests suggests that no single test provides a sufficiently accurate result. But the simultaneous evaluation of a combination of tests could be used as a marker of diminished ovarian reserve and a sensitive predictor of response to ovarian stimulation in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment.

Patients who had been operated on for bilateral endometriomas have an increased risk of POF. Ovarian parenchyma loss at the time of surgery seems related to cyst diameter. In the case of unilateral ovarian endometrioma, the contralateral intact ovary might adequately compensate.

Stage III-IV was strongly associated with poor IVF outcome. A decreased fertilization rate in stage I-II might be a cause of subfertility in these women, owing to a hostile environment caused by the disease.

Purpose On March 8, 2020, the Italian Government implemented extraordinary measures to limit viral transmission of COV-19/SARS-CoV-2. We evaluated the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on lifestyle and emotional state in women planning infertility treatments. Basic Procedures We performed a quantitative research study using a web-based survey, in 140 women referred to Assisted Reproductive Technologies Center. Main findings We observed changes in body weight during lockdown in 80 % of women, and a significant increase in BMI in comparison to that observed before (p = .001). We observed a high percentage of non-adherence to the Mediterranean pattern during lockdown due to higher frequency of consumption of sweet/pastries, cheese and meat, rather than fruit, vegetables and legumes. Before lockdown 36.4 % women were snack consumers while during lockdown 55 % (p = .002). By considering individuals’ attitude to snack consumption, we observed an increase related to boredom (p=<.0001) and anxiety (p = .05) during lockdown. Increased levels of anxiety and sadness were observed in about 30 %, and of boredom in 25 %. The percentage of women worried about their planning infertility treatment was more than 50 %. Principal Conclusions Quarantine-related restrictions strongly influenced lifestyle psychological behavior leading to an increased burden of cardiovascular disease.

Oxidative stress plays a major role in critical biological processes in human reproduction. However, a reliable and biologically accurate indicator of this condition does not yet exist. On these bases, the aim of this study was to assess and compare the blood and follicular fluid (FF) redox status of 45 infertile subjects (and 45 age-matched controls) undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), and explore possible relationships between the assessed redox parameters and IVF outcomes. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production, assessed by flow cytometry analysis in blood leukocytes and granulosa cells, significantly increased (p < 0.05) in infertile patients. Also, oxidative stress markers—ThioBarbituric Acid-Reactive Substances (TBARS) as an index of lipid peroxidation, and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) to account for total antioxidant capacity, both assayed by fluorometric procedures—in blood and FF were significantly (p < 0.001) modified in infertile patients compared to the control group. Moreover, a significant correlation between blood redox markers and FF redox markers was evident. An ORAC/TBARS ratio, defined as the redox index (RI), was obtained in the plasma and FF of the patients and controls. In the patients, the plasma RI was about 3.4-fold (p < 0.0001) lower than the control, and the FF RI was about six-fold (p < 0.0001) lower than the control. Interestingly, both the plasma RI and FF RI results were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) to the considered outcome parameters (metaphase II, fertilization rate, and ongoing pregnancies). Given the reported findings, a strict monitoring of redox parameters in assisted reproductive techniques and infertility management is recommended.