NIH Grant to Study Infertility, Health Among Women of Mexican Heritage

A $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant has been awarded to researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in Mexico to explore the link between infertility and long-term health issues among Hispanic women of Mexican heritage.Dr. Leslie Farland

According to experts, Hispanic women are up to 70% more likely to experience infertility than white women, yet little is known about their long-term health.

“Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, and 60% of Hispanics have Mexican heritage. We need to know more about infertility and related health risks in this group,” said Dr. Leslie Farland, an associate professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and member of the U of A Cancer Center. She is collaborating with Dr. Dalia Stern of the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública to lead the study.

“We hope this project is the first step toward personalized screening recommendations that improve women’s health and lengthen women’s lives,” said Farland.

The goal of the study, which is co-funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Research on Women’s Health, divisions of the National Institutes of Health, is to help improve health outcomes through early screenings and interventions. Existing research on infertility and long-term health outcomes among Hispanic women is sparse. Among the studies that have been conducted, there are key limitations, such as short follow-ups, small sample sizes and a lack of detailed information on infertility histories, diagnoses and treatments. Farland has been collaborating with the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública since 2016, including using data from the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort study. More than 115,000 women enrolled in the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort study in 2006 and are still providing data 18 years later.

“Research on this topic requires large samples with detailed, longitudinal data,” Farland said. “It can only be accomplished by bringing together international experts and data sources.”