Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39915565›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Preconceptional brain structure and future conception: a prospective brain MRI study among 321 women.

Merel W de Vries, Eline M P Poels, Gennady V Roshchupkin, Ryan L Muetzel, Milan Zarchev, Astrid M Kamperman, Henning Tiemeier, Meike W Vernooij, Steven A Kushner

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Merel W de VriesDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands.
Eline M P PoelsDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands.
Gennady V RoshchupkinDepartment of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Wytemaweg 80, Rotterdam, 3015 CN, The Netherlands.
Ryan L MuetzelDepartment of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Wytemaweg 80, Rotterdam, 3015 CN, The Netherlands.
Milan ZarchevDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands.
Astrid M KampermanDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands.
Henning TiemeierDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Meike W VernooijDepartment of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Wytemaweg 80, Rotterdam, 3015 CN, The Netherlands.
Steven A KushnerDepartment of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands. sk2602@cumc.columbia.edu.

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 2021.042
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brain structure may influence female fertility through its reciprocal relationship with the endocrine system, but this hypothesis is underexplored. This study investigated the association between preconceptional brain structure and the likelihood of conception in a prospective population-based neuroimaging cohort. Women intending to conceive within a year were recruited and structural brain MRI scans were collected from 321 participants between June 2019 and March 2021. During the 12-month follow-up, 185 women became pregnant, and 136 did not. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between global brain parameters and conception, adjusting for age, intracranial volume, BMI, prior STD diagnosis, ethnicity, education, household income, smoking, and alcohol use. Unadjusted analyses showed associations between conception and larger occipital lobe and nucleus accumbens volume, increased surface area across all lobes, and occipital cortical thickness, and conception. Adjusted analyses identified a positive association between nucleus accumbens volume and conception (OR = 1.50 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.99), p-value = 0.007). Sensitivity analyses linked caudate volume to conception, but no findings remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Further research is needed to understand the potential role of brain structure and function in conception, in relationship with general health and socioeconomic factors.

Indexed as

BrainFertilizationMagnetic Resonance ImagingAdultFemaleHumansNeuroimagingPregnancyProspective StudiesYoung AdultBrain structureConceptionFertilityMagnetic resonance imagingPregnancy

Identifiers

PMID39915565
PMCPMC11802838

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.