English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The objectives of the study were to investigate whether the incidence of antithyroid antibodies (ATAs) is related to an adverse outcome in the in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in terms of quality of oocytes retrieved, fertilisation, cleavage, embryo quality and implantation rate (primary outcome) as compared to patients without anti-thyroid antibodies and also evaluate the association of ATAs with abortion rate, biochemical pregnancy and clinical pregnancy (secondary outcome). METHODS A total of 52 women having anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti- TPO Ab) level ≥ 35 IU/mL (Cases) and 21 women having anti-TPO Ab level < 35 IU/mL (Controls) undergoing IVF / ICSI from Jan 2014 to Dec 2014 at Milann – The Fertility Centre, Bangalore, were retrospectively analysed. RESULTS There was no difference among the cases and controls for the primary outcome, viz. maturation rate, fertilisation rate, cleavage rate, implantation rate, and embryo quality. However, the abortion rate and biochemical pregnancy rate were significantly higher in the cases than in controls (P = 0.027 for each parameter). On the other hand, the clinical pregnancy rate was significantly lower among the cases (P = 0. 045). CONCLUSIONS There was no statistically significant difference in the primary outcome among the two groups. The secondary outcome of abortion rate and biochemical pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the cases than controls. The clinical pregnancy rate was significantly lower among the cases as compared to controls. Clinical Significance - Anti-TPO Ab acts as a prognostic factor and is disadvantageous to the pregnancy outcome following IVF-ET. KEY WORDS Abortion Rate, Clinical Pregnancy Rate, Fertilisation Rate, Implantation Rate, IVF/ICSI, Oocyte Maturation Rate