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Vitamin D and assisted reproduction: should vitamin D be routinely screened and repleted prior to ART? A systematic review.

ABSTRACT: To review the current literature regarding the role of vitamin D status in pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) and to assess cost-effectiveness of routine vitamin D deficiency screening and repletion prior to initiation of ART.A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed. Relevant study outcomes were compared among the selected studies. A cost-benefit analysis was performed using a decision tree mathematical model with sensitivity analyses from the perspective of direct societal cost. Published data were used to estimate probabilities and costs in 2014 US dollars.Thirty-four articles were retrieved, of which eight met inclusion criteria. One study demonstrated a negative relationship between vitamin D status and ART outcomes, while two studies showed no association. The remaining five studies concluded that ART outcomes improved after vitamin D repletion.The majority of reviewed studies reported a decrement in ART outcomes in patients with vitamin D deficiency. Cost-benefit analyses suggested that screening and supplementing vitamin D prior to ART might be cost effective, but further evidence is needed. Given the absence of Level I evidence regarding vitamin D status and ART outcomes, full endorsement of routine vitamin D screening and supplementation prior to ART is premature.

SUBMITTER: Pacis MM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4363227 | biostudies-other | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Vitamin D and assisted reproduction: should vitamin D be routinely screened and repleted prior to ART? A systematic review.

Pacis Michelle M MM Fortin Chelsea N CN Zarek Shvetha M SM Mumford Sunni L SL Segars James H JH

Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics 20141230 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>To review the current literature regarding the role of vitamin D status in pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) and to assess cost-effectiveness of routine vitamin D deficiency screening and repletion prior to initiation of ART.<h4>Methods</h4>A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed. Relevant study outcomes were compared among the selected studies. A cost-benefit analysis was performed using a decision tree mathematical m ...[more]

PMID: 25547950

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Project description:Accumulating evidence from animal and human studies suggests that vitamin D is involved in many functions of the human reproductive system in both genders, but no comprehensive analysis of the potential relationship between vitamin D status and Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) outcomes is currently available. On this basis, the purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to perform an in-depth evaluation of clinical studies assessing whether vitamin D status of patients undergoing ART could be related to cycle outcome variables. This issue is of interest considering that vitamin D deficiency is easily amenable to correction and oral vitamin D supplementation is cheap and without significant side effects. Surprisingly, no studies are currently available assessing vitamin D status among male partners of couples undergoing ART, while seven studies on vitamin D status of women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for ART were found and included in the review. Results show that vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among women undergoing COH, ranging from 21% to 31% across studies conducted in Western countries and reaching 75-99% in Iranian studies. Data on vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D serum levels <20 ng/ml) in relation to ART outcomes could be extracted from three studies and included in the meta-analysis, yielding a common risk ratio (RR) of 0.89 (95% CI 0.53-1.49) and showing a lower but not statistically significant likelihood of clinical pregnancy for vitamin-D-deficient women compared with vitamin-D-sufficient patients. In conclusion, there is insufficient evidence to support the routine assessment of vitamin D status to predict the clinical pregnancy rate in couples undergoing ART. The partly conflicting results of the available studies, potentially explaining the lack of statistical significance for a negative influence of vitamin D deficiency on clinical pregnancy rate, are likely secondary to confounders and insufficient sample size, and further larger cohort and randomised controlled studies are required.

Project description:BackgroundAcupuncture is widely used for infertile women without undergoing assisted reproductive techniques (ART) in China but its effect is unclear. We aim to assess whether acupuncture and its combined therapy exert a positive influence on the outcome of female fertility.MethodsWe searched 6 databases, including Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and Wan-Fang Data, from inception to June 2018. Studies of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on women with infertility treated by acupuncture or its combined therapy were included. A meta-analysis was performed using Revman 5.3. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed through the risk of bias assessment tool by the Cochrane Collaboration.ResultsThe pregnancy rate was significantly improved with treatment (RR?=?1.84, 95% CI 1.62 to 2.10, P?<?.00001), compared to that in the control group. Subgroup analysis showed that comparing with pure western medicine intervention, no matter intervention with acupuncture alone, with acupuncture plus western medicine, with acupuncture plus Chinese medicine, or acupuncture plus Chinese medicine and western medicine, all of these subgroups exhibited significant improvement. The subgroup according to different types of infertility showed a significant improvement in infertility caused by polycystic ovary syndrome, tubal infertility, ovulatory disorder, and other factors. In addition, the ovulation rate and endometrial thickness were significantly increased. The level of LH was obviously decreased. Moreover, with acupuncture, less adverse effects occurred. The funnel plot revealed that publication bias might exist. All trials included had unclear risks in the aspects of allocation concealment, blinding of participants and personnel, blinding of outcome assessment, selective reporting, and other bias. Only 1 study was assessed as unclear risk in random sequence generation. In the incomplete outcome data, all studies were low risk, except 1.ConclusionsAcupuncture and its combined therapy may be effective for treating female infertility. However, the included studies are not robust enough to draw a firm conclusion due to the not robustly sampled quality of the included studies. Future high-quality RCTs are needed to confirm our findings.

Project description:BackgroundVitamin D plays an important role in human physiology and pathology. The receptor for vitamin D regulates 0.5-5% of the human genome. Accordingly, vitamin D insufficiency has been shown to increase the risk of several diseases. In recent years, based on growing evidence, on a role of vitamin D has been also postulated in reproductive health both in animals and humans, especially in female fertility female fertility. In vitro fertilization success was shown to be higher in women with appropriate reserves of vitamin D. However a causal relation has not been demonstrated and randomized controlled trials testing the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation in IVF are warranted.MethodsThis is a multicenter randomized double blinded placebo controlled study aimed at determining the benefits of vitamin D [25(OH)D] supplementation in improving clinical pregnancy rate in women undergoing IVF. Eligible women with a serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] < 30 ng/ml will be randomized. Recruited women will be given the drug (either 600,000 IU of 25(OH) D or placebo in a single oral administration) at the time of randomization. Two centres will participate and the sample size (700 women) is foreseen to be equally distributed between the two. Patients will be treated according to standard IVF protocols.DiscussionThe primary aim of the study is the cumulative clinical pregnancy rate per oocyte retrieval. Clinical pregnancy is defined as the presence of at least one intrauterine gestational sac with viable foetus at first ultrasound assessment (3 weeks after a positive human chorionic gonadotropin [hCG] assessment). Secondary outcomes include: 1) clinical and embryological variables; 2) oocyte and endometrium quality at a molecular level. To investigate this latter aspect, samples of cumulus cells, follicular and endometrial fluids will be obtained from a subgroup of 50 age-matched good-prognosis cases and controls.Trial registrationThe protocol was included in EudraCT on 22nd September 2015 with the registration number assigned ' 2015-004233-27 '; it was submitted through the database of the Italian "Osservatorio Nazionale della Sperimentazione Clinica (OsSC)" - (National Monitoring Centre of Clinical Trials) to the National Competent Authority on 8th March 2016 and approved on 23rd June 2016.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:To examine the effect of routinely administered psychiatric questionnaires on the recognition, management, and outcome of psychiatric disorders in non-psychiatric settings. DATA SOURCES:Embase, Medline, PsycLIT, Cinahl, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and hand searches of key journals. METHODS:A systematic review of randomised controlled trials of the administration and routine feedback of psychiatric screening and outcome questionnaires to clinicians in non-psychiatric settings. Narrative overview of key design features and end points, together with a random effects quantitative synthesis of comparable studies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Recognition of psychiatric disorders after feedback of questionnaire results; interventions for psychiatric disorders; and outcome of psychiatric disorders. RESULTS:Nine randomised studies were identified that examined the use of common psychiatric instruments in primary care and general hospital settings. Studies compared the effect of the administration of these instruments followed by the feedback of the results to clinicians, with administration with no feedback. Meta-analytic pooling was possible for four of these studies (2457 participants), which measured the effect of feedback on the recognition of depressive disorders. Routine administration and feedback of scores for all patients (irrespective of score) did not increase the overall rate of recognition of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression (relative risk of detection of depression by clinician after feedback 0.95, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 1.09). Two studies showed that routine administration followed by selective feedback for only high scorers increased the rate of recognition of depression (relative risk of detection of depression after feedback 2.64, 1.62 to 4.31). This increased recognition, however, did not translate into an increased rate of intervention. Overall, studies of routine administration of psychiatric measures did not show an effect on patient outcome. CONCLUSIONS:The routine measurement of outcome is a costly exercise. Little evidence shows that it is of benefit in improving psychosocial outcomes of those with psychiatric disorder managed in non-psychiatric settings.

Project description:Sperm DNA fragmentation has been associated with reduced fertilization rates, embryo quality, pregnancy rates and increased miscarriage rates. Various methods exist to test sperm DNA fragmentation such as the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test, the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay and the single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the value of measuring sperm DNA fragmentation in predicting chance of ongoing pregnancy with IVF or ICSI. Out of 658 unique studies, 30 had extractable data and were thus included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the sperm DNA fragmentation tests had a reasonable to good sensitivity. A wide variety of other factors may also affect the IVF/ICSI outcome, reflected by limited to very low specificity. The constructed hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) curve indicated a fair discriminatory capacity of the TUNEL assay (area under the curve (AUC) of 0.71; 95% CI 0.66 to 0.74) and Comet assay (AUC of 0.73; 95% CI 0.19 to 0.97). The SCSA and the SCD test had poor predictive capacity. Importantly, for the TUNEL assay, SCD test and Comet assay, meta-regression showed no differences in predictive value between IVF and ICSI. For the SCSA meta-regression indicated the predictive values for IVF and ICSI were different. The present review suggests that current sperm DNA fragmentation tests have limited capacity to predict the chance of pregnancy in the context of MAR. Furthermore, sperm DNA fragmentation tests have little or no difference in predictive value between IVF and ICSI. At this moment, there is insufficient evidence to recommend the routine use of sperm DNA fragmentation tests in couples undergoing MAR both for the prediction of pregnancy and for the choice of treatment. Given the significant limitations of the evidence and the methodological weakness and design of the included studies, we do urge for further research on the predictive value of sperm DNA fragmentation for the chance of pregnancy after MAR, also in comparison with other predictors of pregnancy after MAR.

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Vitamin D and assisted reproduction: should vitamin D be routinely screened and repleted prior to ART? A systematic review.

Publications

Vitamin D and assisted reproduction: should vitamin D be routinely screened and repleted prior to ART? A systematic review.

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