Hydroxychloroquine improves pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing frozen embryo transfer with positive serum autoantibodies

Abstract

Problem: Does hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) improve pregnancy outcomes after frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles in patients who are positive for autoantibodies？ METHOD OF STUDY: This was a retrospective clinical study involving 128 patients who were positive for autoantibodies undergoing FET cycles between October 2017 and December 2022. Subjects were divided into two groups: a study group of 65 cycles with HCQ (HCQ was administered orally over 2 months before transplantation and continued during the first trimester) and a control group consisting of 63 cycles without HCQ (no HCQ was used throughout the FET cycle). Each patient was enrolled in the cohort only once. Then, we analyzed the clinical pregnancy outcomes between the two groups.

Results: Analysis showed that HCQ was a factor that independently associated with clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) OR (Odds Ratio): 3.106; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.458-6.616; p = .003. Furthermore, the implantation rate (IR), CPR and ongoing pregnancy rate (OPR) of the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The biochemical pregnancy rate (BPR) and early miscarriage rate (EMR) were significantly lower than that in the control group (p = .029, p < .001).

Conclusion: We found that HCQ improved clinical pregnancy outcomes and reduced the rate of first-trimester abortion in patients who were positive for autoantibodies during FET cycles.

Keywords: HCQ; frozen embryo transfer; positive autoantibodies; pregnancy outcome.