Purpose: To explore the cumulative live birth rates (CLBRs) over multiple complete cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF) among patients following freeze-all strategy METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed among 20,687 women undergoing their first and following IVF cycles from 2007 to 2016. The main outcomes of present study were live birth rate per cycle, conservative CLBR and optimal CLBR.
Results: The CLBR increased from 50.74% for the first complete cycle to 64.41% for the conservative estimate and 84.77% for the optimal estimate after seven complete cycles. The CLBRs varied by age. The conservative estimate of CLBR after five complete cycles declined from 77.11% for women younger than 31 years, to 8.63% for women older than 40 years. The optimal CLBRs were 91.82% and 13.74%, respectively. The predictors of live birth over multiple complete cycles for patients embarking on IVF following freeze-all strategy were women's age and causes of infertility. For patients finishing the first complete cycle, the number of oocytes retrieved at complete cycle one also played an important predictive role.
Conclusions: Among women undergoing IVF following freeze-all strategy, the CLBR after seven complete IVF cycles was 84.77% if there were not barriers to continue the IVF treatment, with variation by age. Two prediction models were developed to estimate their probability of having a baby over multiple complete IVF cycles with freeze-all strategy among patients before starting IVF and patients after the first complete cycle, which is critical for patients to make treatment decisions and preparations physically, emotionally, and financially.
Keywords: Cumulative live birth rate; Freeze-all strategy; In vitro fertilization; Live birth.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.