Abstract
BACKGROUND: We investigated whether hereditary thrombophilia is more prevalent in women with recurrent IVF-embryo transfer failures.
METHODS: This case-control study was conducted in an academic tertiary care hospital and compared 45 women with a history of four or more failed IVF cycles (group A) with 44 apparently healthy women matched for age and ethnic origin (group B). All participants were tested for inherited thrombophilias: mutations of prothrombin, factor V Leiden and methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and protein C, protein S and antithrombin III deficiencies.
RESULTS: Excluding homozygotic MTHFR, the incidence of thrombophilia in group A, was 26.7% compared with 9.1% in group B (P = 0.003; odds ratio 2.9; 95% confidence interval 1.02-8.4). The incidence of thrombophilia in women with unexplained infertility in group A was 42.9% (9/21), compared with 18.2% in group B (P < 0.002).
CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that inherited thrombophilia may play a role in the aetiology of repeated IVF failures, particularly in the subgroup with unexplained fertility.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 368-70 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Human Reproduction |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2004 |
Keywords
- Antithrombin III Deficiency
- Embryo Transfer
- Factor V/genetics
- Female
- Fertilization in Vitro
- Humans
- Infertility/therapy
- Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2)/genetics
- Mutation
- Protein C Deficiency/epidemiology
- Protein S Deficiency
- Prothrombin/genetics
- Thrombophilia/epidemiology
- Treatment Failure