COVID vaccination not tied to ovarian reserve change for women seeking fertility treatment

Key takeaways:

• COVID-19 vaccination, regardless of type, was not associated with changes in ovarian reserve.
• COVID-19 vaccination status was not associated with anti-Müllerian hormone value or total antral follicle count.

COVID-19 vaccination was not associated with ovarian reserve changes for women seeking fertility treatment, regardless of type of vaccine, according to a retrospective cohort study published in JAMA Network Open.

“The findings offer reassurance to women of reproductive age who might be worried about the potential impacts of the COVID-19 vaccination on their fertility,” Liubin Yang, MD, PhD, fellow physician in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Baylor College of Medicine, told Healio. “Health care professionals can use this information to counsel women and alleviate any fears they might have about getting vaccinated.”

Yang and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1,655 women (mean age, 34 years) evaluated from 2016 to 2021 at the Texas Children’s Family Fertility Center in Houston. The primary outcome was ovarian reserve defined by sonographic antral follicle count or anti-Müllerian hormone level.

In the cohort, 974 women met criteria for anti-Müllerian hormone level and 1,222 met the criteria for sonographic antral follicle count analyses. In the anti-Müllerian hormone analysis, 836 women were included in the prevaccination group, and 138 women were in the postvaccination group. Overall, there was a mean number of 2.19 COVID-19 vaccination doses received, with 87 women who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 28 who received the Moderna vaccine, nine who received the Janssen vaccine and 14 who had unknown COVID-19 vaccinations.

Researchers observed a significant difference relative to the type of anti-Müllerian hormone assay among vaccinated women, with 31% in the prevaccination group and 99% in the postvaccination group. Only age and anti-Müllerian hormone platform were associated with anti-Müllerian hormone value, but COVID-19 vaccination was not. In the cohort, 70 women had no change in mean anti-Müllerian hormone levels measured before and after COVID-19 vaccination (3.83 vs. 3.86 ng/mL, respectively).

Median antral follicle count was 18 among women in the prevaccination group and 20 among women in the postvaccination group. Only age and BMI were correlated with total antral follicle count, but not COVID-19 vaccination.

“It’s important to remember that this study was performed on women seeking fertility treatment, so further studies may be needed in a broader population,” Yang said.

For more information:

Liubin Yang, MD, PhD, can be reached at liubin.yang@bcm.edu.