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Observational Study
. 2023 Jan 2;13(1):e064711.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-064711.

Correlation of IVF outcomes and number of oocytes retrieved: a UK retrospective longitudinal observational study of 172 341 non-donor cycles

Gulam Bahadur  1   2 , Roy Homburg  2 , Kanna Jayaprakasan  3 , Claudia Joanne Raperport  2 , Judith A F Huirne  4 , Santanu Acharya  5 , Paul Racich  6 , Ali Ahmed  1   7 , Anil Gudi  2 , Abha Govind  1 , Eric Jauniaux  8
Affiliations
Observational Study

Correlation of IVF outcomes and number of oocytes retrieved: a UK retrospective longitudinal observational study of 172 341 non-donor cycles

Gulam Bahadur et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: How do numbers of oocytes retrieved per In vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycle impact on the live birth rate (LBR) and multiple gestation pregnancy (MGP) rates?

Design: Retrospective observational longitudinal study.

Setting: UK IVF clinics.

Population: Non-donor IVF patients.

Main outcome measures: LBR per IVF cycle and MGP levels against number of oocytes retrieved into subgroups: 0, 1-5, 6-15, 16-25, 26-49 oocytes and 50+ oocytes. Relative risk (RR) and 95% CIs were calculated for each group against the intermediate responder with '6-15 oocytes collected'.

Results: From 172 341 attempted fresh oocyte retrieval cycles, the oocyte retrieved was: 0 in 10 148 (5.9%) cycles from 9439 patients; 1-5 oocytes in 42 574 cycles (24.7%); 6-15 oocytes in 91 797 cycles (53.3%); 16-25 oocytes in 23 794 cycles (13.8%); 26-49 oocytes in 3970 cycles (2.3%); ≥50 oocytes in 58 cycles (0.033%). The LBRs for the 1-5, 6-15, 16-25 and 26-49 subgroups of oocytes retrieved were 17.2%, 32.4%, 35.3% and 18.7%, respectively. The RR (95% CI) of live birth in comparison to the intermediate group (6-15) for 1-5, 16-25 and 26-49 groups was 0.53 (0.52 to 0.54), 1.09 (1.07 to 1.11) and 0.58 (0.54 to 0.62), respectively. The corresponding MGP rates and RR were 9.2%, 11.0%, 11.4% and 11.3%, respectively and 0.83 (0.77 to 0.90), 1.04 (0.97 to 1.11) and 1.03 (0.84 to 1.26), respectively.

Conclusion: There was only limited benefit in LBR beyond the 6-15 oocyte group going to the 16-25 oocytes group, after which there was significant decline in LBR. The MGP risk was lower in 1-5 group.

Keywords: health & safety; health economics; health policy; public health; reproductive medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of IVF cycles per each category of number of retrieved oocytes. Graphical distribution of number of cycles correlated to number of oocytes retrieved. IVF, in vitro fertilisation; ICSI, intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
LBR and MGP rates (with 95% CI) per cycle against oocyte numbers retrieved. Correlation of oocyte numbers retrieved groups against LBR and MGP rates. LBR, live birth rate; MGP, multiple gestation pregnancy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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