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Objective: To determine if ovarian responsiveness to gonadotropin stimulation differs by race/ethnicity and whether this predicts live birth rates (LBRs) in non-White patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: Academic infertility center., Patient(s): White, Asian, Black, and Hispanic patients undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF., Intervention(s): Self-reported race and ethnicity., Main Outcome Measure(s): The primary outcome was ovarian sensitivity index (OSI), defined as (the number of oocytes retrieved ÷ total gonadotropin dose) × 1,000 as a measure of ovarian responsiveness, adjusting for age, body mass index, infertility diagnosis, and cycle number. Secondary outcomes included live birth and clinical pregnancy after first retrievals, adjusting for age, infertility diagnosis, and history of fibroids, as well as miscarriage rate per clinical pregnancy, adjusting for age, body mass index, infertility diagnosis, duration of infertility, history of fibroids, and use of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy., Result(s): The primary analysis of OSI included 3,360 (70.2%) retrievals from White patients, 704 (14.7%) retrievals from Asian patients, 553 (11.6%) retrievals from Black patients, and 168 (3.5%) retrievals from Hispanic patients. Black and Hispanic patients had higher OSIs than White patients after accounting for those with multiple retrievals and adjusting for confounders (6.08 in Black and 6.27 in Hispanic, compared with 5.25 in White). There was no difference in OSI between Asian and White patients. The pregnancy outcomes analyses included 2,299 retrievals. Despite greater ovarian responsiveness, Black and Hispanic patients had lower LBRs compared with White patients, although these differences were not statistically significant after adjusting for confounders (adjusted odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63-1.09, for Black; adjusted odds ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.61-1.43, for Hispanic). Ovarian sensitivity index was modestly predictive of live birth in White and Asian patients but not in Black (area under the curve, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.38-0.64) and Hispanic (area under the curve, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.37-0.63) patients., Conclusion(s): Black and Hispanic patients have higher ovarian responsiveness to stimulation during IVF but do not experience a consequent increase in LBR. Factors beyond differences in responsiveness to ovarian stimulation need to be explored to address the racial/ethnic disparity established in prior literature., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests I.T.L has nothing to disclose. D.S.B. has nothing to disclose. N.K. has nothing to disclose. S.S. reports funding from National Institutes of Health and AbbVie and consulting fees for participation on Ferring Oocyte Cryopreservation Advisory Board and is Co-Chair of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee, outside the submitted work. M.M. has nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the impact of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and assisted hatching (AH) on assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes in initial cycles with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) as the primary diagnosis., Design: Retrospective cohort study of cycles from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) Clinic Outcome Reporting System database., Setting: Not applicable., Patient(s): A total of 422,949 fresh, nondonor, initial ART cycles of which 8,597 were diagnosed with only elevated FSH and 38,926 were diagnosed with only DOR according to the SART DOR categorization., Intervention(s): None., Main Outcome Measure(s): Live birth and clinical pregnancy rates., Result(s): ICSI and AH were associated with diminished odds of live birth in SART DOR-only cycles (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81-0.96 for ICSI; AOR 0.77, 95% CI 0.71-0.84 for AH). No association between odds of live birth and either ICSI or AH in elevated FSH-only cycles was observed. The combination of ICSI and AH was associated with significantly lower odds of live birth in SART DOR-only cycles but not in elevated FSH-only cycles., Conclusion(s): In initial ART cycles for which the only indication relates to a diagnosis of DOR, AH and ICSI are not associated with improved live birth rates., (Copyright © 2014 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Epidemiologic studies have shown an increased rate of adverse perinatal outcomes, including small for gestational age (SGA) births, in fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles compared with frozen embryo transfer cycles. This increase is not seen in the donor oocyte population, suggesting that it is the peri-implantation environment created after superovulation that is responsible for these changes. During a fresh IVF cycle, multiple corpora lutea secrete high levels of hormones and other factors that can affect the endometrium and the implanting embryo. In this review, we discuss both animal and human data demonstrating that superovulation has significant effects on the endometrium and embryo. Additionally, potential mechanisms for the adverse effects of gonadotropin stimulation on implantation and placental development are proposed. We think that these data, along with the growing body of epidemiologic evidence, support the proposal that frozen embryo transfer should be considered preferentially, particularly in high responders, as a means to potentially decrease at least some of the adverse perinatal outcomes associated with IVF., (Copyright © 2014 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)