A study performed by Israeli researchers has confirmed the results of a New York research team about the effects of dehydroepiandrosterone, the supplement known in layman’s lingo as DHEA, on female infertility when used to treat women suffering from DOR (diminished ovarian reserves). The Israeli team hails from the Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel and is led by Adrian Shulman, MD, while the previous studies were performed by the scientists at New York City’s Center for Human Reproduction (CHR).
Success Tripled
While the Israeli study is small and includes only 33 participants, this work is the only random study on DHEA as a therapy for female factor infertility. Of the participants in this study, 17 were given the supplement while a second group of 16 women stood in as a control group. The results of the study confirmed that DHEA triples the success rate for women who conceive by in vitro fertilization (IVF).
CHR was a pioneer in the use of DHEA as a treatment for women with diminished ovarian reserves, having employed the supplement as a therapeutic measure since 2004. This institution produced many studies on the use of DHEA and infertility under the direction of the medical director for CHR, Norbert Gleicher, MD, along with the director of clinical assisted reproduction at the center, David H. Barad, MD. The CHR studies on DHEA have generated a great deal of interest and were published in major journals including Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, Fertility and Sterility, and Human Reproduction. Shulman is duly grateful for the groundwork done by CHR and has referenced their studies in his own work.
Last Resort
CHR was granted a U.S. patent in 2009 for the use of DHEA as a therapeutic measure from women suffering from DOR-induced infertility. The patent was granted as a response to the large body of convincing evidence generated by the center. Since receiving the patent, some 2,000 women have been treated with DHEA. Women flock to CHR from various geographical locations throughout the world for the treatment of diminished ovarian reserves due to premature aging of the ovaries or advanced age. The center has earned a nickname as the fertility center, “of last resort.”
The CHR researchers garnered a great deal of important information on DHEA over a six year period, but Dr. Shulman’s Israeli team accomplished something the CHR team had not: a prospective, random study. Still, Shulman happily credits CHR for its work which motivated fertility experts around the world to begin using DHEA to boost female fertility. Shulman’s study is a welcome addition to the data on DHEA as a fertility supplement for women suffering from DOR.
