OBJECTIVE To determine whether failure to adequately adjust for a reported 40% misclassification of use of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) as reported in a Swedish study could have led to a false finding that folic acid increases dizygotic twinning. DESIGN Modelling with population based data. SETTING Swedish vital records for 1995-9. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Rates of twinning calculated accord...

BACKGROUND Infertility is common and in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a widely used treatment. In IVF the need increases and the effectiveness and appropriateness decrease by age. The purpose of this study was to describe allocation of resources for IVF by women's age, socioeconomic position, area of residence and treatment sector (public vs. private) and to discuss how fairly the IVF resources ...

BACKGROUND Little is known about post-natal growth in IVF offspring and the effects of rates of early post-natal growth on blood pressure and body fat composition during childhood and adolescence. METHODS The follow-up study comprised 233 IVF children aged 8-18 years and 233 spontaneously conceived controls born to subfertile parents. Growth data from birth to 4 years of age, available for 39...

BACKGROUND Despite ongoing progresses of IVF techniques, biomarkers predicting their outcome prior to IVF initiation are lacking. We investigated whether serum levels of the stress-inducible soluble major histocompatibility complex Class I chain-related molecule, MICA, (sMIC), a regulator of cellular immunity, can be predictive of implantation or pregnancy failure after IVF. METHODS sMIC seru...

BACKGROUND Sperm DNA damage is common amongst infertile men and may adversely impact natural reproduction, IUI-assisted reproduction and to a lesser degree IVF pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of sperm DNA damage on the risk of spontaneous pregnancy loss after IVF and ICSI. METHODS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on sperm DNA damage a...

Sperm DNA damage is prevalent among infertile men and is known to influence natural reproduction. However, the impact of sperm DNA damage on assisted reproduction outcomes remains controversial. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies on sperm DNA damage (assessed by SCSA, TUNEL, SCD, or Comet assay) and clinical pregnancy after IVF and/or ICSI treatment from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PUBMED d...

BACKGROUND In the last decade, numerous studies have demonstrated concern about the presence of hydrosalpinx and its management in patients undergoing IVF. We evaluated the current management of hydrosalpinx prior to IVF treatment in the UK. METHODS A total of 117 postal survey, anonymous, sealed questionnaires were sent to all IVF centres in the UK, to determine the policy for the management...

IVF success rates are low, with approximately one-third of all cycles resulting in live births1. Improving IVF success rates would make a significant difference in the lives of many women trying to conceive. Chromosome aneuploidy (abnormal number of chromosomes) is a major cause of IVF failure, miscarriage, and, in rare cases, abnormal pregnancy and live birth. Most aneuploidies arise during th...

Some existing laws and some proposed legislation regulating the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) limit its availability to infertile couples. Dawson and Singer question whether it is reasonable to so restrict access to IVF, and examine some of the medical and social circumstances in which IVF and the related procedures of embryo freezing, embryo biopsy, and embryo transfer might be use...

The novel introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into in vitro fertilization (IVF) technologies (AI(i)IVF) is, at the same time, medically promising and ethically disconcerting. new possibilities complexities generated by involving intelligent, powerful algorithms human creation reproduction, raise a host ethical issues for IVF patients, practitioners—embryologists, particular, society la...