Preconception period in women and men undergoing Assisted Reproduction: A gender approach for reproductive health.

Objective: To evaluate lifestyle and risk factors playing a role in increasing the burden of cardiovascular diseases and to increase attention of clinicians who should envision a broader preconception approach in ART, not only in women but also in men.

Study Design: In this cross-sectional study we investigated 90 Caucasian couples, referred to the Internal Medicine Clinic at the Assisted Reproductive Technology Centre, in order to better define in preconceptional period their cardiovascular risk profile, based on metabolic parameters and lifestyle behaviours.

Results: We observed two-fold increase of overweight in men in comparison to women (p = 0.