Prospective study of a Swedish infertile cohort 2005–08: population characteristics, treatments and pregnancy rates

Background. We here report on results from a prospective study comprising 380 infertile couples undergoing infertility work-up and various treatments for infertility in our clinic. The aim was to investigate the overall birth rate as a result of different treatments, as well as spontaneous pregnancies. Methods. Three hundred and eighty couples were consecutively included between December 2005 and May 2008. All couples underwent a fertility work-up, including hysterosalpingogram, hormonal characterization, clinical examination, screening for infectious diseases and semen analysis. The mean age of the women at the time of inclusion was 33.2 years. The mean duration of infertility prior to inclusion was 1.8 years. And 46.6% (n = 177) of the women had been pregnant prior to their first visit to the clinic and 30.0% (n = 114) had been pregnant earlier in their present relationship. Results. As of November 2010, 57.3% (n = 218) of the women had given birth to a child when they were lost to follow up by the study. Spontaneous conception was observed in 11.3% (n = 43) of the women, 14.5% (n = 64) conceived after intrauterine insemination (IUI), 4.2% (n = 16) conceived after ovarian hyperstimulation and ovulation induction (OH/OI) and 28.4% (n = 113) after in vitro fertilization. There were 280 pregnancies and 58 spontaneous abortions (22.3%) in the group. Mean anti-mullerian hormone significantly correlated with antral follicle count and age and was significantly higher in the subgroup that became pregnant after IUI. Conclusions. Spontaneous pregnancies and IUI + OH/OI contributed significantly to the pregnancies observed in the total population. Predictive factors for pregnancy were anti-mullerian hormone in the group undergoing IUI treatment and in the age group ≥38—duration of infertility. Previous pregnancies, body mass index, estradiol, follicle stimulating hormone or having given birth prior to the infertility period were not predictive of pregnancy for the infertile couples in this study.