ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1605601
This article is part of the Research TopicNutrition Counseling for Non-Communicable Disease ManagementView all 10 articles
The Mediating Role of Body Roundness Index in the Association Between Life's Crucial 9 and Infertility: A Cross-Sectional Study Using NHANES 2013-2018
Provisionally accepted
- 1Gynecology and obstetrics, Taizhou Central Hospital (Taizhou University Hospital), Zhejiang, China
- 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Taizhou Central Hospital (Taizhou University Hospital), Zhejiang, China
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Recent findings indicate a possible connection among heart health, obesity, and infertility. Yet, the processes through which obesity affects the link between heart health and infertility are still not well understood. The newly created Life's Crucial 9 (LC9) serves as a measure for evaluating heart health, and the Body Roundness Index (BRI) offers a more accurate and innovative approach to measuring central obesity. The objective of this research is to explore the link between LC9 and infertility and determine if BRI serves as an intermediary in this connection.The data for this cross-sectional analysis was sourced from the 2013-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Following the application of exclusion criteria, 2,319 women aged between 18 and 45 years were incorporated. To investigate the link between LC9, BRI, and infertility, methods like weighted multivariable logistic regression models, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis, and subgroup analyses were utilized.Furthermore, an analysis of mediation was performed to determine if BRI played a mediating role in the link between LC9 and infertility.Results: Within the demographic of the study, infertility occurred in 13% of cases. Postadjustment for every covariate, a rise of 10 units in LC9 correlated with a 29% decrease in infertility rates (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.61-0.84, P < 0.001). In contrast, a one-unit rise in BRI correlated with a 14% increase in infertility rates (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.07-1.23, P < 0.001).Analysis using the RCS method revealed a direct negative relationship between LC9 and infertility, and a positive correlation between BRI and infertility. Mediation analysis showed that BRI mediated 16.26% of LC9's overall impact on infertility (P < 0.001), suggesting a substantial influence of central obesity in this correlation.There is a significant negative correlation between LC9 and infertility, with BRI playing a partial mediating role. These findings highlight the importance of cardiovascular health and obesity management in reproductive health and suggest that reducing central obesity may lower the risk of infertility. Further research is needed on potential intervention strategies targeting metabolic and cardiovascular health to prevent infertility.
Keywords: Life's Crucial 9, Body roundness index, Infertility, NHANES, Mediation analysis
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Gao, Zhong, Bao, Xu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jianping Xu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Taizhou Central Hospital (Taizhou University Hospital), Zhejiang, China
Ling Zhang, Gynecology and obstetrics, Taizhou Central Hospital (Taizhou University Hospital), Zhejiang, China
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