Evaluating the factors associated with pregnancy loss in pregnant women undergoing assisted reproductive techniques

Abstract

Introduction: Whenever assisted reproductive techniques (ART) leading to successful pregnancy (with live birth), they can be considered useful .This study is aimed at assessing the effect of risk factors associated with the pregnancy loss on pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women undergoing ART. Method: An analytical case-control study was conducted on 318 women referred to three centers in the city of Ahvaz between 2011 and 2016. They have been pregnant with ART. Totally, 199 women have had successful pregnancy, and 119 women have been unsuccessful pregnancy. Effects of 19 risk factors was evaluated on both groups of women with successful and unsuccessful pregnancy. These factors include maternal age, body-mass index, type of ART, abortion, recurrent abortion, Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab), uterine leiomyoma, endometrioma, PCOS, maternal smoking, male infertility factor, a history of in vitro fertilization failure, uterus anomalies, cervical incompetence, maternal variables of diabetes and other diseases, multiple pregnancy, number and quality of embryos. Eventually, all data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: A significant statistically correlation was found between the pregnancy loss in patients undergoing ART and the risk factors of recurrent abortion, TPO-Ab and uterine leiomyoma (P-Value 0.05). Conclusion: Findings of this study showed that risk factors of recurrent abortion, TPO-Ab and uterine leiomyoma have significant importance in pregnant patients undergoing ART. Keywords: Pregnancy loss, Risk factors, Assisted reproductive techniques