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COVID-19 and assisted reproductive technology services: repercussions for patients and proposal for individualized clinical management.

ABSTRACT: The prolonged lockdown of health services providing high-complexity fertility treatments -as currently recommended by many reproductive medicine entities- is detrimental for society as a whole, and infertility patients in particular. Globally, approximately 0.3% of all infants born every year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments. By contrast, the total number of COVID-19 deaths reported so far represents approximately 1.0% of the total deaths expected to occur worldwide over the first three months of the current year. It seems, therefore, that the number of infants expected to be conceived and born -but who will not be so due to the lockdown of infertility services- might be as significant as the total number of deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. We herein propose remedies that include a prognostic-stratification of more vulnerable infertility cases in order to plan a progressive restart of worldwide fertility treatments. At a time when preventing complications and limiting burdens for national health systems represent relevant issues, our viewpoint might help competent authorities and health care providers to identify patients who should be prioritized for the continuation of fertility care in a safe environment.

SUBMITTER: Alviggi C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7218705 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 and assisted reproductive technology services: repercussions for patients and proposal for individualized clinical management.

Alviggi Carlo C Esteves Sandro C SC Orvieto Raoul R Conforti Alessandro A La Marca Antonio A Fischer Robert R Andersen Claus Y CY Bühler Klaus K Sunkara Sesh K SK Polyzos Nikolaos P NP Strina Ida I Carbone Luigi L Bento Fabiola C FC Galliano Daniela D Yarali Hakan H Vuong Lan N LN Grynberg Michael M Drakopoulos Panagiotis P Xavier Pedro P Llacer Joaquin J Neuspiller Fernando F Horton Marcos M Roque Matheus M Papanikolaou Evangelos E Banker Manish M Dahan Michael H MH Foong Shu S Tournaye Herman H Blockeel Christophe C Vaiarelli Alberto A Humaidan Peter P Ubaldi Filippo M FM

Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E 20200513 1

The prolonged lockdown of health services providing high-complexity fertility treatments -as currently recommended by many reproductive medicine entities- is detrimental for society as a whole, and infertility patients in particular. Globally, approximately 0.3% of all infants born every year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments. By contrast, the total number of COVID-19 deaths reported so far represents approximately 1.0% of the total deaths expected to occur wo ...[more]

PMID: 32404170

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Project description:ImportanceThe number of children born through the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been increasing. These children may have higher risks for epigenetic alteration and adverse perinatal outcomes, which may be associated with childhood cancers.ObjectiveTo determine the associations between different modes of conception and childhood cancers and potential mediation by preterm birth and low birth weight.Design, setting, and participantsThis nationwide, population-based cohort study included registry data from 2 308 016 eligible parents-child triads in Taiwan from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2017. A total of 1880 children with incident childhood cancer were identified. Data were analyzed between September 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022.ExposureMode of conception, defined as (1) natural conception, (2) subfertility and non-ART (ie, infertility diagnosis but no ART-facilitated conception), or (3) ART (ie, infertility diagnosis and ART-facilitated conception).Main outcomes and measuresDiagnosis of childhood cancer according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancers, Third Edition.ResultsThe mean (SD) paternal and maternal ages were 33.28 (5.07) and 30.83 (4.56) years, respectively. Of the 2 308 016 children, 52.06% were boys, 8.16% were born preterm, and 7.38% had low birth weight. During 14.9 million person-years of follow-up (median, 6 years [IQR, 3-10 years]), ART conception was associated with an increased risk of any type of childhood cancers compared with natural conception (hazard ratio, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.17-2.12) and subfertility with non-ART conception (hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.04-1.95). The increased cancer risk of children conceived with ART was mainly owing to leukemia and hepatic tumor. The increased cancer risk associated with ART conception was not mediated by preterm birth or low birth weight.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cohort study, children conceived via ART had a higher risk of childhood cancers than those conceived naturally and those born to parents with an infertility diagnosis did not use ART. The increased risk could not be explained by preterm birth or low birth weight.

Project description:BackgroundAn explosive increase in couples attending assisted reproductive technology has been recently observed, despite an overall success rate of about 20%-30%. Considering the assisted reproductive technology-related economic and psycho-social costs, the improvement of these percentages is extremely relevant. However, in the identification of predictive markers of assisted reproductive technology success, male parameters are largely underestimated so far.Study designRetrospective, observational study.ObjectivesTo evaluate whether conventional semen parameters could predict assisted reproductive technology success.Materials and methodsAll couples attending a single third-level fertility center from 1992 to 2020 were retrospectively enrolled, collecting all semen and assisted reproductive technology parameters of fresh cycles. Fertilization rate was the primary end-point, representing a parameter immediately dependent on male contribution. Pregnancy and live birth rates were considered in relation to semen variables. Statistical analyses were performed using the parameters obtained according to the World Health Organization manual editions used for semen analysis.ResultsNote that, 22,013 in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles were considered. Overall, fertilization rate was significantly lower in patients with abnormal semen parameters compared to normozoospermic men, irrespective of the World Health Organization manual edition. In the in vitro fertilization setting, both progressive motility (p = 0.012) and motility after capacitation (p = 0.002) significantly predicted the fertilization rate (statistical accuracy = 71.1%). Sperm motilities also predicted pregnancy (p < 0.001) and live birth (p = 0.001) rates. In intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles, sperm morphology predicted fertilization rate (p = 0.001, statistical accuracy = 90.3%). Sperm morphology significantly predicted both pregnancy (p < 0.001) and live birth (p < 0.001) rates and a cut-off of 5.5% was identified as a threshold to predict clinical pregnancy (area under the curve = 0.811, p < 0.001).DiscussionInterestingly, sperm motility plays a role in predicting in vitro fertilization success, while sperm morphology is the relevant parameter in intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. These parameters may be considered reliable tools to measure the male role on ART outcomes, potentially impacting the clinical management of infertile couples.

Dataset Information

COVID-19 and assisted reproductive technology services: repercussions for patients and proposal for individualized clinical management.

Publications

COVID-19 and assisted reproductive technology services: repercussions for patients and proposal for individualized clinical management.

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