Authors: Tur, Rosa; Barri, Pedro N.; Coroleu, Buenaventura; Buxaderas, Rosario; Martínez, Francisca

Source: Human Reproduction, Volume 16, Number 10, October 2001 , pp. 2124-2129(6)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: High-order multiple pregnancies (triplets or more) have a large adverse impact on perinatal morbidity and mortality as well as important economic consequences. Most triplets and higher births are due to ovulation induction alone or in combination with intrauterine insemination (IUI) rather than to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The present investigation was undertaken to determine whether there were specific variables that related to patient clinical characteristics (age of the woman, duration of infertility, type of infertility, body mass index, basal FSH and LH concentrations), treatment characteristics (initial dose of gonadotrophins, total dose of gonadotrophins administered, number of days of ovarian stimulation, insemination procedure, number of spermatozoa inseminated in patients undergoing IUI, type of luteal support), and ovarian response (oestradiol serum concentrations, number and size of follicles) that might be associated with the occurrence of high-order multiple implantation in order to develop a prediction model. METHODS: This study employed univariate, multivariate and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of a large series of 1878 consecutive pregnancies obtained in cycles stimulated with gonadotrophins. Of them, 1771 (94.3%) were low-order pregnancies (1477 singletons and 294 pairs of twins) and 107 (5.7%) were high-order pregnancies. RESULTS: Predictive variables in the multivariate analysis were age of the woman, serum oestradiol concentrations and number of follicles >10 mm on the day of HCG injection. Stratification of the number of follicles into three categories (1 to 3, 4 to 5, and >5 follicles respectively), peak serum oestradiol and woman's age according to the ROC curves, showed that the risk of high-order multiple implantation correlated significantly with increasing total number of follicles and was significantly increased in women with a serum oestradiol >862 pg/ml and aged ≤32 years. CONCLUSIONS: This three-variable model can help to identify patients at high-risk for high-order multiple pregnancy in ovulation induction cycles.

Keywords: gonadotrophins; high-order gestation; multiple pregnancy; ovulation induction

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Service of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institut Universitari Dexeus, and

Publication date: 2001-10-01

More about this publication?

• Human Reproduction features full-length, peer-reviewed papers reporting original research, clinical case histories, as well as opinions and debates on topical issues. Papers published cover the scientific and medical aspects of reproductive physiology and pathology, endocrinology, andrology, gonad function, gametogenesis, fertilization, embryo development, implantation, pregnancy, genetics, genetic diagnosis, oncology, infectious disease, surgery, contraception, infertility treatment, psychology, ethics and social issues. The highest scientific and editorial standard is maintained throughout the journal along with a rapid rate of publication.

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• In this Subject: Anatomy & Physiology ,  Obstetrics & Gynecology
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