Comparative study of obstetric and neonatal outcomes of live births between poor‐ and good‐quality embryo transfers

• Published in: Reproductive medicine and biology Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 188 - 194
• Main Authors: Akamine, Kozue, Mekaru, Keiko, Gibo, Keiya, Nagata, Chinatsu, Oishi, Sugiko, Miyagi, Maho, Heshiki, Chiaki, Kinjo, Tadatugu, Masamoto, Hitoshi, Aoki, Yoichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2018; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: assisted reproductive treatment; Birth weight; Births; Blastocysts; Chorioamnionitis; Classification; Comparative analysis; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Embryo; embryo quality; Embryo transfer; Embryonic development; Endometrium; Fertility; Gestational age; Health risk assessment; Hypertension; Infants (Newborn); Infertility; maternal complication; neonatal outcome; Neonates; Obstetrics; Original; Placenta; poor‐quality embryo; Pregnancy; Pregnancy complications; embryo quality; maternal complication; neonatal outcome; poor‐quality embryo; assisted reproductive treatment
• ISSN: 1445-5781; 1447-0578
• DOI: 10.1002/rmb2.12090

Purpose To evaluate the effect of embryo quality on pregnancy outcomes. Methods This retrospective analysis included 80 live singleton births, resulting from morphologically good‐quality embryo transfers, and 25 live singleton births that resulted from morphologically poor‐quality embryo transfers between January, 2008 and December, 2014. Cleavage embryos that were graded as ≥2, according to the Veeck classification system, and blastocysts that were graded as ≥3BB, according to the Gardner classification system, were defined as good quality. The obstetric and neonatal outcomes were compared between the poor‐ and good‐quality embryo transfer groups. Results The mean maternal age between the groups was similar. The blastocyst transfer rate was higher in the good‐quality, than in the poor‐quality, embryo transfer group. Other characteristics, including parity, infertility duration, the intracytoplasmic sperm injection rate, frozen‐thawed embryo transfer rate, endometrial thickness, and hormone values before the embryo transfer, were similar between the groups. The obstetric and neonatal outcomes of live births between the two groups were not different in terms of preterm delivery, birthweight, small or large size for gestational age, malformation, umbilical artery cord pH of <7.20, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus, chorioamnionitis, placenta previa, and placental abruption. Conclusion The obstetric and neonatal outcomes of live births between the poor‐ and good‐quality embryo transfers were equivalent. Poor embryo quality was not associated with increased risk of adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes.