Getting pregnant can be a long, arduous and complicated journey. But researchers from the University of Dundee and University College London in the United Kingdom recently published a study in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility that explains that two physical characteristics would increase the chances of getting pregnant: no tonsils and no appendix.
Appendectomy and tonsillectomy, two benign and common operations
The appendix is removed during appendicitis, an infection of this part of the intestines, and the tonsils are removed, in 90% of children, in the case of recurrent angina. These are very common operations, with an average of 75,000 tonsillectomies and 83,000 appendectomies performed each year.
Researchers from the University of Dundee studied almost 500,000 women, of whom 350,000 were in the control group, 54,000 had had their appendix removed, 112,000 had had their tonsils removed, and 10,000 had had neither.
The results indicated that among these participants, 43.7% of those in the control group had become pregnant, compared with 53.4% in the second group, 54.4% in the third group and 59.7% in the last group. The researchers also found that for the latter group, the time to conception was shorter than for the others.
However, no tangible explanation has been found for the moment, which is why studies will have to complete these results. Moreover, before this experiment, other studies had been carried out which indicated the opposite: the women having undergone these operations had more difficulties to become pregnant…
The researchers however emit a hypothesis: there would be a hormonal influence on the body. To be verified…