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Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

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Open Access 01-12-2012 | Review

The optimal duration of progesterone supplementation in pregnant women after IVF/ICSI: a meta-analysis

Authors: Xi-Ru Liu, Hua-Qiao Mu, Qi Shi, Xiao-Qiu Xiao, Hong-Bo Qi

Published in: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology | Issue 1/2012

Abstract

Background

Progesterone supplementation after in vitro fertilisation/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) can improve the rates of clinical pregnancy and live birth, but the optimal duration of treatment remains controversial. The objective of this meta-analysis was to investigate the effects of early progesterone cessation on pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing IVF/ICSI.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Chinese biomedicine (CBM) literature database, and the Wanfang database. The final search was performed in July 2012. All available randomised trials that compared the effects of early progesterone cessation with progesterone continuation during early pregnancy after IVF/ICSI were included. The main outcome measures were live birth rate, miscarriage rate and ongoing pregnancy rate. Fixed or random-effects models were chosen to calculate the risk ratio (RR).

Results

Six eligible studies with a total of 1,201 randomised participants were included in the final analysis. No statistically significant differences were detected between patients who underwent early progesterone cessation and those who received progesterone continuation for luteal phase support in terms of live birth rate (RR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.86–1.05), miscarriage rate (RR: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.74–1.38) or ongoing pregnancy rate (RR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.90–1.05). These results did not change after a sensitivity analysis.

Conclusions

The currently available evidence suggests that progesterone supplementation beyond the first positive hCG test after IVF/ICSI might generally be unnecessary, although large-scale randomised controlled trials are needed to strengthen this conclusion.

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Title: The optimal duration of progesterone supplementation in pregnant women after IVF/ICSI: a meta-analysis
Authors: Xi-Ru Liu
Hua-Qiao Mu
Qi Shi
Xiao-Qiu Xiao
Hong-Bo Qi
Publication date: 01-12-2012
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology / Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1477-7827
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-10-107

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Springer Medicine

The optimal duration of progesterone supplementation in pregnant women after IVF/ICSI: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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