A Prospective Cohort Study to Evaluate the Impact of Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle on Fertility (IDEAL): Design and Baseline Characteristics.
2020 May 30
Journal Article
Authors:
Mumford, S.L.;
Johnstone, E.;
Kim, K.;
Ahmad, M.;
Salmon, S.;
Summers, K.;
Chaney, K.;
Ryan, G.;
Hotaling, J.M.;
Purdue-Smithe, A.C.;
Chen, Z.;
Clemons, T.
Secondary:
Am J Epidemiol
PMID:
32472141
Abstract:
Diet, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors may influence fertility for men and women, though evidence is mixed, and couple-based approaches are needed for assessing associations with reproductive outcomes. The Impact of Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle on Fertility (IDEAL) study is a prospective cohort with contemporaneous detailed follow-up of female partners of men enrolled in the Folic Acid and Zinc Supplementation Trial studying couples seeking infertility treatment (2016-2019). Follow-up of men continued for 6 months, while female partners were followed for 9 months while attempting pregnancy and throughout any resulting pregnancy (up to 18 months). Longitudinal data on diet, physical activity (including measurement via Fitbit), sleep, and stress were captured at multiple study visits during this follow-up. A subset of women (IDEALplus) also completed daily journals and a body fat assessment via dual X-ray absorptiometry. 920 women were enrolled in IDEAL and 218 in IDEALPlus. We demonstrated the ability to enroll women in a prospective cohort study contemporaneous to a partner-enrolled randomized trial. In combination with data collected on male partners, IDEAL data facilitates a couple-based approach to understanding associations between lifestyle factors and infertility treatment outcomes. We describe in detail the study design, recruitment, data collection, lessons learned, and baseline characteristics.
