Publication date: Jul 10, 2023

To evaluate whether outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) are affected during the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. This was a single-center, retrospective study. Embryo development, pregnancy, and live birth outcomes were compared between COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 groups. Blood samples from patients during the COVID-19 pandemic were tested for COVID-19. After 1:1 random matching, 403 cycles for each group were included in the study. The rates of fertilization, normal fertilization, and blastocyst formation were higher in the COVID-19 group than in the pre-COVID-19 group. No difference was observed in the rates of day 3 good-quality embryos and good-quality blastocysts between the groups. A multivariate analysis showed that the live birth rate in the COVID-19 group was higher than that in the pre-COVID-19 group (51. 4% vs. 41. 4%, P = 0. 010). In fresh cleavage-stage embryo and blastocyst transfer cycles, there were no differences between the groups in terms of pregnancy, obstetric, and perinatal outcomes. In the freeze-all cycles, the live birth rate was higher during the COVID-19 pandemic (58. 0% vs. 34. 5%, P = 0. 006) than during the pre-COVID-19 period following frozen cleavage stage embryo transfer. The rate of gestational diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic was higher than that during the pre-COVID-19 period (20. 3% vs. 2. 4%, P = 0. 008) following frozen blastocyst transfer. All the serological results of the patients during the COVID-19 pandemic were negative. Our results indicate that embryo development, pregnancy, and live birth outcomes in uninfected patients were not compromised during the COVID-19 pandemic at our center.

Semantics

Original Article