TY - JOUR
T1 - To pill or not to pill in GnRH-antagonist cycles
T2 - the answer is in the data already!
AU - Griesinger, Georg
AU - Venetis, Christos A
AU - Tarlatzis, Basil
AU - Kolibianakis, Efstratios Michaelis
N1 - Copyright © 2015 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/7
Y1 - 2015/7
N2 - The planning of IVF treatment by scheduling menstruation and hence initiation of ovarian stimulation using sex-steroid pre-treatment is commonly used. Pooling data from six randomized-controlled trials encompassing 1343 patients, with and without combined oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment, suggests that the ongoing pregnancy rate per randomized woman is significantly lower in patients with oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment (relative risk [RR]: 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66-0.97; rate difference [RD]: -5%, 95% CI: -10% to -1%; fixed effects model). This finding remains remarkably robust in multiple sensitivity analyses: exclusion of a study on poor responders, exclusion of the three smallest studies or exclusion of studies with a pill-free interval of less than 5 days, results in RR of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.64-0.94), 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65-0.98) and 0.79, (95% CI: 0.64-0.99), respectively. Furthermore, the finding of a significant reduction in ongoing pregnancy rate is not inconsistent with other evidence from the literature. The potential benefit of using oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment for cycle planning should therefore be balanced against its detrimental effect. Further randomized studies should test whether an effect similar to the one observed after combined oral contraceptive pill usage exists after other sex steroid pre-treatment regimens.
AB - The planning of IVF treatment by scheduling menstruation and hence initiation of ovarian stimulation using sex-steroid pre-treatment is commonly used. Pooling data from six randomized-controlled trials encompassing 1343 patients, with and without combined oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment, suggests that the ongoing pregnancy rate per randomized woman is significantly lower in patients with oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment (relative risk [RR]: 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66-0.97; rate difference [RD]: -5%, 95% CI: -10% to -1%; fixed effects model). This finding remains remarkably robust in multiple sensitivity analyses: exclusion of a study on poor responders, exclusion of the three smallest studies or exclusion of studies with a pill-free interval of less than 5 days, results in RR of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.64-0.94), 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65-0.98) and 0.79, (95% CI: 0.64-0.99), respectively. Furthermore, the finding of a significant reduction in ongoing pregnancy rate is not inconsistent with other evidence from the literature. The potential benefit of using oral contraceptive pill pre-treatment for cycle planning should therefore be balanced against its detrimental effect. Further randomized studies should test whether an effect similar to the one observed after combined oral contraceptive pill usage exists after other sex steroid pre-treatment regimens.
U2 - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.04.001
DO - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.04.001
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 25985996
VL - 31
SP - 6
EP - 8
JO - Reproductive BioMedicine Online
JF - Reproductive BioMedicine Online
SN - 1472-6483
IS - 1
ER -