Impact of maternal education level on live birth rate after in vitro fertilization in China: a retrospective cohort study

Purpose To assess the association between maternal education level and live birth after in vitro fertilization (IVF). Methods We studied women who underwent the first cycle of fresh or frozen-thawed embryo transfer between 2014 and 2019. Women were divided into four educational categories according to the level of education received (elementary school graduate or less, middle school graduate, high school graduate, college graduate or higher). The live birth rate was compared between different education level groups. We used logistic regression to analyze the association between maternal education level and live birth after IVF. Results We studied 41,546 women, who were grouped by maternal educational level: elementary school graduate or less ( n = 1590), middle school graduate ( n = 10,996), high school graduate ( n = 8354), and college graduate or higher ( n = 20,606). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, we did not demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between educational level and live birth in middle school graduate (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84–1.09), high school graduate (AOR 1.01; 95% CI, 0.87–1.14) or college graduate or higher (AOR 1.01; 95% CI, 0.88–1.14) patients, with elementary school graduate or less as the reference group. Conclusions Maternal educational level was not associated with the likelihood of live birth in patients undergoing fresh or frozen embryo transfer.