Asian ethnicity is associated with decreased pregnancy rates following intrauterine insemination.

Asian ethnicity has been associated with decreased pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing IVF. The objective of this study was to determine if a difference exists in pregnancy rates between Asian and Caucasian patients undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI). A retrospective cohort of Asian and Caucasian patients treated with IUI between December 2002 and 2006 was analysed, including 2327 IUI cycles among 814 patients. Baseline characteristics were similar between Asian and Caucasian women. A significantly greater proportion of Asians (43.9%) presented for treatment after more than 2 years of infertility compared with Caucasians (24.6%) (P < 0.0001). Unadjusted analysis showed a trend towards decreased pregnancy rates associated with Asian ethnicity (odds ratio (OR) 0.71, 95% CI 0.50-1.01, not significant). Age, stimulation protocol, differences in gravity and parity, and duration of infertility did not account for this difference (adjusted OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.47-0.98, P = 0.039). Asian ethnicity is associated with lower pregnancy rates in IUI treatment. The increased duration of infertility in Asians does not explain the reduced pregnancy rates.

Bed rest after embryo transfer: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether bed rest after embryo transfer leads to improved pregnancy rates (PR). DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: University reproductive health clinic. PATIENT(S): Women undergoing IVF. INTERVENTION(S): Patients undergoing 164 cycles of IVF were randomized to 30 minutes of bed rest after embryo transfer or immediate discharge from the clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Clinical PR defined by visualized fetal heart beat and ongoing PR defined by viable intrauterine gestation beyond 11 weeks. RESULT(S): The clinical and ongoing PR for both groups were 50% and 46.3%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION(S): Thirty minutes of bed rest after embryo transfer does not improve PR.

Asian ethnicity is associated with reduced pregnancy outcomes after assisted reproductive technology.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether success rates were similar in Asian and Caucasian women undergoing infertility treatment. DESIGN: Secondary data analysis and multivariate modeling. SETTING: Clinics reporting to the national Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology registry and a university-based clinic. PATIENT(S): Caucasian and self-identified Asian infertile women undergoing IVF. The study included 25,843 Caucasian and 1,429 Asian patients from the national registry; 370 Caucasian and 197 Asian patients were included from the site-specific clinic. INTERVENTION(S): In vitro fertilization. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Pregnancy rate and live-birth rate. RESULT(S): Infertile Asian women differed only minimally from their Caucasian counterparts in baseline characteristics and treatment response. Yet Asian women had a decreased clinical pregnancy rate (odds ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval 0.64-0.80) and a decreased live-birth rate (odds ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval 0.61-0.77). Subsequent multivariate analysis demonstrated that Asian ethnicity was an independent predictor of poor outcome. CONCLUSION(S): After treatment, infertile Asian women have significantly fewer pregnancies than do Caucasian women. Multivariate analysis indicates that this discrepancy cannot be accounted for by differences in baseline characteristics or by response to current therapeutic interventions.