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Reproductive success of assisted reproductive technology in couples with chromosomal abnormalities

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Infertility is estimated to affect 15% of couples, having chromosome abnormalities an important role in its etiology. The main objective of this work was to access the reproductive success of ART in infertile couples with chromosomal abnormalities comparing to a control group with normal karyotype.

Methods

A 7-year retrospective karyotype analysis of infertile couples was done. Data regarding type of infertility, couples’ ages, ART performed, and their reproductive success were obtained. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) were used to estimate magnitude of association between the reproductive success and the different groups.

Results

We found a prevalence of 7.83% of chromosome abnormalities in our population (233 couples out of 2989). Chromosomal anomalies were found in 82 men (34.75%) and 154 women (65.25%), with low-grade mosaicism being the most prevalent (50.85%), followed by autosomal translocations (17.37%) and sex chromosomes abnormalities (13.56%). Only 2359 couples were treated with ART. There was a non-significant lower reproductive success rate in the cases (OR = 0.899, p = 0.530) with IVF providing the higher success rate. In general, female carriers of chromosome anomalies had a higher success rate, although not significant.

Conclusion

Although the differences regarding success rate between groups were not found statistically significant, we still advocate that cytogenetic analysis should be performed routinely in all infertile couples namely before ART. This might help deciding the best treatment options including Preimplantation Genetic Testing for aneuploidies or structural rearrangements and minimize the risk of transmission of anomalies to the offspring.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Centro de Genética e Reprodução Professor Alberto Barros’s team and Mrs. Susana Coutinho from Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João for their support in data gathering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Department, Faculty of Medicine (FMUP), University of Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal

    Ana Rita Jesus, Alberto Barros & Sofia Dória

  2. Unidade de Medicina da Reprodução, Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João (CHUSJ), Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal

    Sandra Silva-Soares

  3. Centro de Genética e Reprodução Professor Alberto Barros, Avenida do Bessa, 4100-012, Porto, Portugal

    Joaquina Silva & Alberto Barros

  4. EPIUnit - Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal

    Milton Severo

  5. Department of Public Health and Forensic Sciences and Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine (FMUP), University of Porto, Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal

    Milton Severo

  6. I3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Avenida do Bessa, 4100-012, Porto, Portugal

    Alberto Barros & Sofia Dória

Authors
  1. Ana Rita Jesus
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  2. Sandra Silva-Soares
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  4. Milton Severo
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  5. Alberto Barros
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sofia Dória.

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The Ethics Committee for Health of Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João (CHUSJ) approved this study, and all data was irreversibly anonymized, assuring protection of all patients’ information.

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Jesus, A.R., Silva-Soares, S., Silva, J. et al. Reproductive success of assisted reproductive technology in couples with chromosomal abnormalities. J Assist Reprod Genet 36, 1471–1479 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01486-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01486-x

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