Revisiting the predictability of follicular fluid leptin and related adiposity measures for live birth in women scheduled for ICSI cycles: a prospective cohort study

Our research question is could follicular fluid (FF) leptin solely or contemporaneously with other clinical, biochemical, and sonographic adiposity measures predict the probability of having a live birth during ICSI cycles? This is a prospective cohort study that enrolled infertile women without polycystic ovary syndrome scheduled for ICSI. At baseline, women had an assessment of obesity using different metrics: clinical, serum biochemical, and sonographic. Clinical measures encompassed waist circumference and body mass index. Biochemical evaluation comprised an assessment of the homeostasis model for insulin resistance, visceral adiposity index, and lipid accumulation product. Preperitoneal and subcutaneous abdominal fat were measured using ultrasound and body fat index was calculated. On the day of oocyte retrieval, pooled FF was sampled to assess FF leptin. Our primary outcome was live birth after one fresh embryo transfer cycle. Out of 91 women analyzed in this study, 28 have a live birth (30.8%). No difference in FF leptin concentration was found between women with and without live birth (mean ± SD; 20336 ± 8006 vs 18493 ± 6655 pg/ml; P = 0.2). None of the assessed adiposity markers was a predictor for live birth. Substantially, follicular fluid leptin was positively correlated with insulin resistance in women with and without live birth (r = 0.21, P = 0.04). In logistic regression analysis, the outcome of the prior cycle, the ability to have cryopreserved embryos, and the oocyte maturation index were the predictors for live birth in our study. The present work could not find evidence that follicular fluid leptin, preperitoneal fat, and other evaluated adiposity measures could impact live births after ICSI cycles.