Obese women should be barred from IVF, say experts

Obese women face being denied NHS fertility treatment until they have lost weight.

Severely obese childless women should be barred from having IVF, according to guidelines from the British Fertility Society.

Those who are judged obese rather than severely obese should be "encouraged" to slim if they want fertility treatment, the society says.

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Tony Rutherford, of the BFS, said: "Obesity reduces the chances that a woman will conceive naturally and decreases the possibility that fertility treatment will be successful.

"It also increases the risk of complications during fertility treatment and pregnancy and endangers the health and welfare of both mother and child.

"We want to work with our patients to improve their chances of becoming pregnant with minimum risk to their health and that of their child.

"The BFS would like to see more resources put towards supporting and helping women to lose weight to improve their chances of conceiving."

Women with a body mass index (BMI) above 35, which is severely obese, will have their treatment "deferred" until they have lost weight.

The BMI measure is a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in metres. A 5ft 4in woman with a BMI of 36 would weigh at least 15st.

The guidelines also recommend that women classified as obese, with a BMI between 30 and 35, should be encouraged to get it below 30 before getting treatment.

This would include women of 5ft 4in who weigh around 12st.

They should be given help to lose weight, including psychological support, dietary advice, exercise classes and even weight-reducing drugs or gastric surgery.

Even a moderate weight loss of up to 10 per cent can be enough to restore fertility, the society says.

The BFS guidelines are used by specialists and will be sent to all primary care trusts, which are responsible for paying for NHS fertility treatment.

There are already inequalities between trusts in granting treatment and critics fear the guidelines could make access worse.

Guidance from the NHS rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, falls short of stopping obese women from getting treatment.

The accuracy of the BFS recommendations was questioned yesterday by Mohammed Taranissi, of the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre in London.

He said: "They are factually incorrect and based on bad science. BMI is not very accurate, particularly for women who have a lot of muscle.

"It's important to look at the range of factors and treat women as individuals, not just take weight as the be-all and end-all."

Clare Brown, of the charity Infertility Network UK, said: "There are conditions affecting your fertility which also have an impact on your weight.

"Women are under a great deal of stress when battling with infertility.

"We recommend that clinicians adopt a flexible approach and look at cases on an individual basis."