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Does contemporary ART lead to pre-eclampsia? A cohort study and meta-analysis

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

Recent publications suggested that the risk for pre-eclampsia (PE) is higher with frozen-thawed embryo transfers (FETs) compared to fresh transfers (IVF-ETs). These studies were based on old data that reflects outdated practices. In this paper, we wanted to assess the incidence of PE in current assisted reproductive technology (ART) practice.

Methods

In this cohort study, we present the incidence of PE in all births in the province of Ontario, Canada, for the years 2013–2017 for FET, IVF-ET, and natural conceptions (NC). We also compare our findings to previous studies in a meta-analysis that includes over 4 million births.

Results

The results of our study show that contemporary practice of ART results in comparable risk for PE between FET and IVF-ET; however, the risk is higher than NC.

Conclusion

Current ART practice is associated with a lower risk for PE in frozen embryo transfer; this RR can be further attenuated by using ovulatory endometrial preparation for FETs.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) Ontario as the source of the data and CARTR Plus for providing Extract ART and birth data (Years provided: 2013 to 2017). The data was provided in 2020.

Funding

The study was funded internally.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Juno Fertility, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Shlomit Kenigsberg & Yaakov Bentov

  2. OBGYN Department, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Yaakov Bentov

  3. OBGYN, Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Yaakov Bentov

Authors
  1. Shlomit Kenigsberg
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  2. Yaakov Bentov
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Contributions

SK and YB reviewed previous publications, analyzed current data & wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaakov Bentov.

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Disclaimer

All inferences, opinions, and conclusions drawn in this publication are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the options or policies of BORN Ontario.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kenigsberg, S., Bentov, Y. Does contemporary ART lead to pre-eclampsia? A cohort study and meta-analysis. J Assist Reprod Genet 38, 651–659 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02061-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02061-z

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