DHEA Use in Pregnancy

Dr. Phil Boyle and his team at NeoFertility published the first paper showing a reduced incidence of miscarriage for women with low estradiol if they are treated with DHEA during pregnancy. View the research paper here and view the video on this page.

Key Points of Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM) Treatment vs. “Conventional Medicine” Treatment:

  1. DHEA is a precursor/building block required to make Estradiol & Testosterone. DHEA can be depleted from increased physical and/or emotional stress, causing a woman to be deficient in DHEA and thus, not produce enough Estradiol and/or Testosterone.

  2. DHEA has been studied up to 100mg daily during pregnancy without negative impacts. RRM doesn’t give DHEA supplementation above 50mg.

  3. Normal levels of DHEA & Testosterone have been shown to increase during pregnancy. If DHEA levels are too low, it can increase risk of miscarriage, uterine contractions (from lack of Estrogen) and preterm birth.

  4. Goal for treatment is to restore the DHEA deficiency, then come off the supplement if able to do so.

  5. Dr Phil Boyle: In over 25 years of clinical practice in RRM and utilization of DHEA for the past 10 years, NO cases of babies born with severe genetic disorders, NO virilzation (development of male sex characteristics in female babies). Initial study below followed these babies for 5-7 years without any concerns.

Resources on DHEA use in pregnancy

Additional Bibliography

[1] Boyle, Phil, et al. “Restoration of serum estradiol and reduced incidence of miscarriage in patients with low serum estradiol during pregnancy: A retrospective cohort study using a multifactorial protocol including DHEA.” Frontiers in Reproductive Health, vol. 5, 4 Jan. 2024, https://doi.org/10.3389/frph.2023.1321284
[2] Simpson E, Santen RJ. Celebrating 75 years of oestradiol. J Mol Endocrinol. (2015) 55(3): T1–20. doi: 10.1530/JME-15-0128
[3] Wan J, Hu Z, Zeng K, Yin Y, Zhao M, Chen M, et al. The reduction in circulating levels of estrogen and progesterone in women with preeclampsia. Pregnancy Hypertens. (2018) 11:18–25. doi: 10.1016/j.preghy.2017.12.003
[4] Salas SP, Marshall G, Gutierrez BL, Rosso P. Time course of maternal plasma volume and hormonal changes in women with preeclampsia or fetal growth restriction. Hypertension. (2006) 47(2):203–8. doi: 10.1161/01.HYP.0000200042.64517.19
[5] Zhu Y, Qiu L, Jiang F, Găman MA, Abudoraehem OS, Okunade KS, et al. The effect of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplementation on estradiol levels in women: a dose-response and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Steroids. (2021) 173:108889. doi: 10.1016/j.steroids.2021.108889
[6] Check JH, Lurie D, Davies E, Vetter B. Comparison of first trimester serum estradiol levels in aborters versus nonaborters during maintenance of normal progesterone levels. Gynecol Obstet Invest. (1992) 34(4):206–10. doi: 10.1159/000292762