Poverty may be linked to lower fertility

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-09-20 01:00

International

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People in poverty and with social disadvantage may find it harder to get pregnant, according to a study in the Netherlands. Researchers found that about half of couples on low incomes had fertility problems compared to about a third of couples on high incomes. Lifestyle factors, such as BMI, smoking, and drinking, did not fully explain this difference. The researchers said that more studies are needed to understand the causes.

Media release

From: JAMA

Poverty and Social Disadvantage in Women and Men and Fertility Outcomes

The findings of this cohort study suggest that poverty and social disadvantage, characterized by low educational level and household income among both women and men, were associated with lower fecundability (defined as the per-month probability of conceiving) and increased risks of subfertility (defined as a time to pregnancy or the duration of actively pursuing pregnancy of more than 12 months or use of assisted reproductive technology) but not with miscarriage risk. Further studies are needed to identify the underlying and explanatory mechanisms associated with fertility outcomes and the potential for novel public health strategies for couples desiring pregnancy.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Open Network

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Erasmus University Medical Centre, Netherlands.

Funder: The Generation R Next Study is financially supported by the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam; the Erasmus University Rotterdam; the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) as part of the Dutch Research Counsil (NWO); and the Bernard van Leer Foundation. This study was supported by grant agreement 874583 (ATHLETE Project) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and by the Healthy Start Convergence Programme from the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Erasmus University, and Delft University of Technology. Dr Gaillard was supported by Vidi grant 09150172110034 from ZonMw, by the Dutch Diabetes Foundation (grant 2024.28.001) and by the European Union (ERC, OBESE-EMBRYO, ERC-2024-STG-101161004). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Prof Jaddoe was supported by consolidator grant ERC-2014-CoG-648916 from the European Research Council and grant 05430052110007 from ZonMw. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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