Outcomes of first assisted reproductive technology treatment in infertile women with and without antinuclear antibodies: A prospective cohort study

•This study explored the effect of antinuclear antibodieson the outcomes of infertile women undergoing assisted reproductive technology treatment for the first time.•Compared with the ANA- group, oocyte maturation rate was considerably lower and high-quality embryo rate was lower in the ANA+ group.•No associations were found between ANA positivity and clinical pregnancy rate, live birth rate and miscarriage rate for first ART treatment. It has been shown that antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) are associated with adverse reproductive events. The presence of ANAs may reduce the pregnancy rate in women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. This study aimed to investigate the potential effect of ANAs on the outcomes of infertile women undergoing in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for the first time. In total, 907 women were enrolled, with 192 (21.14 %) cases in the ANA+ group and 715 (78.86 %) cases in the ANA- group. Baseline data were collected, and associations between ANAs and oocyte maturation rate, high-quality embryo rate, clinical pregnancy rate, live birth rate and miscarriage rate were analysed. Compared with the ANA- group, the ANA+ group had a considerably lower oocyte maturation rate (0.69 ± 0.31 vs 0.77 ± 0.26; P = 0.003) and a lower high-quality embryo rate (0.53 ± 0.30 vs 0.78 ± 0.92; P