Publications by authors named "L W Lacey"
Article Synopsis
- The study examines how the risk of different types of assisted reproductive technology (ART) failures varies among ethnic groups in the UK, with a focus on maternal age and suspected causes of infertility.
- It analyzed data from 48,750 women who underwent their first ART cycle between 2017 and 2018, using patient information from the national ART registry.
- The results showed that Black women faced significantly higher risks of ART treatment failures compared to White women, while Asian women had moderately increased risks; factors such as maternal age may influence these outcomes.
Determinants of individual variation in reallocation of limited resources towards self-maintenance versus reproduction are not well known. We tested the hypothesis that individual heterogeneity in long-term 'somatic state' (i) explains variation in endocrine and behavioural responses to environmental challenges, and (ii) is associated with variation in strategies for allocating to self-maintenance versus reproduction. We used relative telomere length as an indicator of somatic state and experimentally generated an abrupt short-term reduction of food availability (withdrawal of food supplementation) for free-living seabirds (black-legged kittiwakes, ).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study investigated the cost-effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation in older adults in Ireland, with year-round vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration <30 nmol/L) (13% of Irish adults), from the perspective of the Health Service Executive.
Methods: Three age groups were investigated: (1) ≥50 years, (2) ≥60 years and (3) ≥70 years. Based on the clinical literature, vitamin D supplementation may: (1) decrease all-cause mortality by 7% and (2) reduce hip fractures by 16% and non-hip fractures by 20%.
Metformin is widely used in pregnancy, despite lack of long-term safety for children. We hypothesised that metformin exposure in utero is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We tested this hypothesis in a follow-up study of children born to obese mothers who had participated in a randomised controlled trial of metformin versus placebo in pregnancy (EMPOWaR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Assisted hatching (AH) is a technique that helps embryos break out of their protective outer layer (zona pellucida) to improve implantation chances during assisted conception.
- A systematic review was conducted, including 39 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 7249 women, to evaluate the effects of AH on live birth and multiple pregnancy rates.
- The evidence from these studies indicated low to very low-quality results, with significant concerns about bias and reporting issues, leading to inconclusive findings about the benefits of AH.