Adverse Quality of Life Style and Risk of Infertility: A Systematic Review Study

Abstract

Background: Infertility and mental, social, and economic issues associated with it endanger some relationships. Adverse quality of lifestyle is a threat to reproductive health and can lead to infertility problems. Objective: The present systematic review study was conducted to investigate the impact of the adverse quality of lifestyle on increased risks of infertility. Methods: After selecting electronic databases, namely Scopus, Pub Med, SID, and Web of Science, we searched the total population of available and published observational studies [cohort, casecontrol and cross-sectional] in Persian and English, examining the impact of lifestyle on reproductive and infertility parameters. The employed keywords were infertility, sub-fertility, male infertility, female infertility, couple infertility, lifestyle, and quality of life and their equivalent Persian words from 2007 to January 2019 regardless of gender. Out of 1211 studies, 60 were finally included in the study after excluding unrelated and duplicate papers and animal samples. Results: In the present study, older age, inadequate diet and nutrient intake, high body mass index and abdominal fat, smoking and alcohol drinking, inadequate physical activity, intense physical activity, stress, and sexual dysfunction were observed to affect reproductive indices; however, some researchers did not find any relationship between the foregoing factors and fertility. Conclusion: Individuals with dysfunctions in reproductive indices had more adverse quality of lifestyle indices compared with others, possibly reducing their chances of fertility. However, more studies are required to determine the relationship between lifestyle and infertility.