{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,4]],"date-time":"2026-11-04T21:52:13Z","timestamp":1793829133781,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,8]],"date-time":"2023-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1686182400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Iron deficiency is a common problem in subfertile women. The influence of iron status on unexplained infertility is unknown.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In a case-control study, 36 women with unexplained infertility and 36 healthy non-infertile controls were included. Parameters of iron status including serum ferritin and a serum ferritin &amp;lt;30 \u00b5g\/dL served as main outcome parameters.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Women with unexplained infertility demonstrated a lower transferrin saturation (median 17.3%, IQR 12.7-25.2 versus 23.9%, IQR 15.4-31.6; <jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.034) and a lower mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (median 33.6 g\/dL, IQR 33.0-34.1 versus 34.1 g\/dL, IQR 33.2-34.7; <jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.012). Despite the fact that there was no statistically significant difference in median ferritin levels (<jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.570), women with unexplained infertility had ferritin levels &amp;lt;30\u00b5g\/L more often (33.3%) than controls (11.1%; <jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.023). In a multivariate model, unexplained infertility and abnormal thyroid antibodies were associated with ferritin &amp;lt;30\u00b5g\/L (OR 4.906, 95%CI: 1.181-20.388; <jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.029 and OR 13.099; 2.382-72.044; <jats:italic>p=<\/jats:italic> 0.029, respectively).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Ferritin levels &amp;lt;30\u00b5g\/L were associated with unexplained infertility and might be screened in the future. Further studies with a focus on iron deficiency and iron treatment on women with unexplained infertility are warranted.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2023.1173100","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,8]],"date-time":"2023-06-08T05:32:00Z","timestamp":1686202320000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":30,"title":["Iron status in women with infertility and controls: a case-control 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