The effect of fertility stress on endometrial and subendometrial blood flow among infertile women

摘要

Background To investigate the effect of fertility stress on endometrial and subendometrial blood flow among infertile women. Methods This case–control study was conducted in The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. The fertility problem inventory (FPI) was adopted to evaluate fertility stress. Three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography (3D PD-US) was performed during the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle (days 5–11) to measure endometrial thickness, pattern, endometrial and subendometrial volume (V), the vascularization index (VI), the flow index (FI) and the vascularization-FI (VFI) index. Then, 300 infertile women were separated into two groups (high-score group and low-score group) based on total FPI scores and 80 healthy women were selected as controls. Results No differences were found among all three groups with regard to general characteristics, endometrial thickness, pattern, endometrial and subendometrial V, VI and VFI. The endometrial and subendometrial FIs associated with different stress levels significantly differed among the three groups ( F =?33.95, P?Conclusion Fertility stress was associated with endometrial and subendometrial flow index. Whether fertility stress might affect pregnancy outcome?by reducing endometrial and subendometrial blood flow requires further research.